UTRGV police officer shares details of car fire in Brownsville
A UTRGV staff member’s vehicle caught on fire around 11:30 a.m. Monday on the Brownsville campus.
UTRGV police officer Marco Huerta was the first on the scene and said there were no injuries or major property damage.
“The only total loss, of course, was the vehicle that caught on fire and there was minor damage to the lawn or the grass area,” Huerta said.
According to him, the UTRGV staff member had parked their vehicle and saw smoke coming from inside of the car through the dashboard and immediately evacuated and called the Police Department.
Alejandro Lopez/Pulse
The Brownsville Fire Department arrived at the scene and were able to extinguish the fire after UTRGV police were unable to “due to the fire [being] so intense already.”
The car being a 2013 red Buick Verano was engulfed in flames at Parking Lot B3 by the Biomedical Research & Health building.
He added two other vehicles were “slightly” damaged due to the flames from the burning car.
As of time of publication, the cause of the fire is currently unknown.
“It’s still under investigation, but it did originate from the engine compartment,” Huerta said.
The officer said he advises people on campus to get out of the vehicle and notify emergency services in a similar scenario.
