Against the gloomy backdrop of gray skies, a fire consumed a parked car and the attention of bystanders in downtown Hanover this weekend.
According to the Hanover Police and Fire report, the fire began shortly after 4 p.m. Saturday afternoon in the engine compartment of a black Saab automobile parked in front of the Camera Shop of Hanover on South Main Street. Hanover Police dispatchers received a 911 emergency call at 4:19 p.m., sending fire and police units to extinguish the flames -- which by then had spread to the wheel wells -- with a foam solution.
The cause of the fire is still under investigation, according to Hanover Police. The driver of the Saab was not with the car at the time of the incident, and as a result was unharmed.
Traffic on South Main Street between Allen Street and Wheelock Street was disrupted for over an hour as the fire department cleaned the scene. The Saab's engine sustained heavy damage, and the fire and cleanup resulted in minor damage to an adjacent Honda automobile.
Karen Fredette, an employee of the Dirt Cowboy Caf who witnessed the scene, said a customer of the restaurant first saw smoke rising from the hood of the car and called the police on his cell phone. She and other onlookers described the excitement created on an otherwise normal Saturday.
"It was pretty crazy," Fredette said. "We all were so excited that we were hanging out the window."
Alexandra Garcia '05, who was driving north on South Main Street toward campus during the fire, said roughly 30 people crowded around the smoke-spewing car. She said there was so much smoke that at the time it was unclear what was actually on fire.
Tim Cullen, general manager of Murphy's on the Green, added that the entire street filled with smoke, and some lit gasoline leaked down the street under two other parked cars.
Despite the danger posed by flaming gasoline, Cullen said onlookers gathered very close to the burning car. As the incident occurred in front of the camera store, its employees and customers descended upon the scene with cameras in hand, snapping photographs.
Fredette described a tire explosion, although firefighter David Hautaniemi said the incident report did not mention an explosion.
Fredette said the customer who first called 911 told her and others in the Dirt Cowboy that he saw a Hanover parking meter enforcement officer walk past the smoking car and fail to act.
Hautaniemi did not address this charge, noting, "I couldn't even offer a response to that."
Although Cullen didn't actually witness any wrongdoing, he said he wouldn't put it past a parking officer to walk by a burning car.
"That wouldn't surprise me at all," Cullen said. "He probably gave the car a ticket."
