by Christopher Sanchez
Daily Lobo
Smoke rose from the Cornell Parking Structure Tuesday afternoon when a vehicle caught fire.
Joe Finley, a sophomore at UNM, said he was walking to his vehicle when he smelled burning wires and saw smoke rising from a vehicle. Finley, who is trained in basic fire safety, called 911 and grabbed the nearest fire extinguisher to put out the blaze.
"First of all, I told everyone to get away," he said. "Second, I tried to get the fire under control."
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Finley said he and a nearby UNM security guard tried to put the fire out, which was coming from under the vehicle's hood, but the flames were too overwhelming.
He said the Albuquerque Fire Department was at the structure within three minutes of the phone call.
Dave Downey, a firefighter for AFD, said when he arrived at the scene smoke could be seen from the structure. By the time he reached the fourth floor where the vehicle was on fire, other firefighters had already put out the blaze, he said.
Downey said he didn't know the cause of the fire.
"It's undetermined," he said. "It looks electrical."
Cmdr. James Daniels of the UNM Police Department said the vehicle was a 1996 Dodge Stratus. Daniels said he didn't know who owned the vehicle.
"We're trying to figure out who owns the car," he said. "We'll try and hunt them down."
Daniels said the vehicle was totaled from the fire and was later towed.
