A car caught fire in the William T. Young Library parking lot with the owner, a UK student, sitting inside.

Brooke Berry’s 2016 Jeep Renegade caught fire on the night of Sept. 12 around 8 p.m. while she was eating dinner in her car.

She said she was unaware of the situation until a girl approached her to tell her the car was on fire. Berry said it happened fast.

“I ran away and it went up in flames,” Berry said. 

Alaric Renshaw said he saw it happen from up close. 

“At first it was ablaze,” Renshaw said. “And then we looked at the car, the passenger side, as well as the hood (was on) fire.”

Renshaw said he saw black smoke and suspected it was an oil fire.

“Then by the time it got to the back of (the) midsection of the vehicle, beyond the windshield, police and firefighters were here,” he said.

Renshaw said that the time it took for police to respond was “swift.”

Berry had packed her car intending to drive home for the weekend. Once firefighters extinguished the fire, they removed her bags from the vehicle.

“I have no idea what started it,” Berry said.