Talon Marks Online News

A white truck caught fire in parking lot C-10 of the Cerritos College campus, near Studebaker Road, on Monday afternoon. The cause of the fire is unknown.

The fire was extinguished by the Los Angeles County Fire Department.

The driver, who is not a Cerritos College student, was picking up her sister who currently goes to Cerritos College.

The woman noticed smoke coming from her vehicle and pulled into the parking lot.

Students who were at the automotive building saw the truck smoking and ran to help the woman get out of her car.

Shawn Rutkowski, an automotive student was one of the first to go help.

“As soon as she parked it, you could see the flames coming out the sides. So we ran over to tell her to get out. She came running out and we got the fire extinguisher but it just didn’t help at all,” Rutkowski said.

Marc Gessin, another automotive student, was with Rutkowski and went with him to help the woman.

“It started smoking then we saw a little bit of a fire. We yelled at her to come out, then it caught more. Then we ran and got fire extinguishers,” Gessin said.

Robert Shiekh-Ali was the student who ran to campus police to inform officers that there was a car on fire. “They already had part of it determined. They just asked what kind of vehicle it was. I just told them it was a white little pickup truck,” Shiekh-Ali said.

The Los Angeles County Fire Department approached the parking lot 27 minutes after the incident was reported.

There were no injuries as a result of the fire, and the extent of damage is unknown at this time.

The woman who was driving the truck declined to comment.