A Volkswagon Rabbit burst into flames in front of Johnston Gate yesterday afternoon, halting northbound traffic on Mass. Ave. and setting off Massachusetts Hall fire alarms.
A crowd of more than 100 Harvard students and Cantabrigians watched Cambridge firemen pry open the hood of the car, owned by Kate Gillis, and douse the burning engine with water and foam.
"The car had started to burn a little under the hood when the fire trucks came and blocked both streets," said Marissa Ghez '89, a Mass. Hall resident. "As they pried the hood open with a crowbar, flames burst out from underneath and the whole underside of the car began to burn."
The car burned for 15 minutes before the fire was extinguished, filling Harvard Square with gray clouds and sending enough smoke through open Mass. Hall windows to set off alarms throughout the building.
Gillis, 24, said she was looking for housing in Cambridge with her real estate broker when smoke started to pour out of the hood. When she braked in front of Johnston Gate for a look under the hood, she said the engine burst into flames.
"This is the kind of thing that happens to everyone else, not to me," said Gillis.
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