A white 1994 Ford Explorer was consumed by fire in front of Turlington Hall just after 7 a.m. on Friday.
While driving to work, Richard Vlasak, 45, the owner of the car, said he noticed smoke escaping from under the hood of the vehicle and smelled burning leaves, said UPD spokesman Lt. Robert Wagner.
Vlasak, a physician at Shands at UF, pulled over on Newell Drive in front of Turlington, and the car soon caught fire, Wagner said.
A 911 call was placed around 7:15 a.m. UPD and Gainesville Fire Rescue responded.
About 5 minutes and 500 to 600 gallons of water later, the fire was extinguished, said driver and operator Jeff Schuhmacher of GFR.
Schuhmacher estimated the flames were about 15 feet high.
No one was injured, but the car was destroyed, he said.
Vlasak was the only one in the vehicle when it caught fire, he said.
He said Vlasak told authorities he rarely used his car because he typically rode his bike to work.
In the past, with the car out of use for months at a time, animals have been known to build nests in the engine compartment, Vlasak told authorities.
Schuhmacher said a nest could have caused the fire, but the car was too badly burned to know for sure.
The charred remains of the car were towed and UF's Physical Plant Division was called to clean the area at 7:50 a.m., Wagner said.
There was no apparent damage to UF property, he said.
