A truck engine behind the SAE caught fire Wednesday night. (SPENCER EGGERS/The Daily Campus)

A white pickup truck’s engine caught fire shortly after 9:45 p.m. Wednesday in the fraternity parking lot adjacent to the SAE house. Members of the SAE fraternity became aware of the blaze when they smelled something burning from inside the house. 

Sophomore Jefferson Parker said he was in a friend’s room at the time, and that after smelling something burning, “We all sprinted outta the room.”

“I grabbed the first fire extinguisher I could see,” he said, “but the flame was only getting hotter.” 

Parker reported that the flames were still under the hood when he reached the fire. He was unable to put out the fire. 

Just before the fire department arrived, flames from the truck had reached as high as the roofline of the nearby SAE house.

Within 9 minutes of discovering the fire, authorities arrived at the location to put the flames out. The SMU police department was the first on the scene, followed by both the Highland Park and University Park fire departments. 

Firefighters were able to completely extinguish the flames and take control of the area after a few minutes. Damage was mostly confined to the truck itself.

Firefighters at the scene were unable to say for certain what had caused the unexpected inferno. No further information was available.