On Thursday, March 30, senior Chance Stanley got the surprise of his life when discovering that his truck was on fire in the campus parking lot.

“My friend Kayne Williams called me while I was in economics class and told me the news,” Stanley said. “My first thoughts were that it’s all a joke and I’m just going to walk outside and everything is good, but that wasn’t the case.”

Another student called 911 after seeing the truck engulfed in flames, but the damage was too far gone.

“The fire pretty much burnt everything except the tires,” Stanley said. “We had a lot of stuff from home in the truck because we are moving houses so a lot of personal items like computers, clothes, and pictures were lost.”

According to Stanley, the cause of the fire has been ruled undetermined, even though several rumors have claimed otherwise.

“There wasn’t anything left in or on the truck for the inspector to look at,” he said.

Stanley said his parents were also in shock when they first heard the news and could not quite believe it.

“My parents reacted a lot like I did,” he said. “They both thought it was a big joke until they had about 15 to 20 people calling them all at once. My mom wanted to freak out and my dad just felt the need to crack jokes.”

Stanley is currently using his mother’s car to get to and from school, and said he and his family are waiting on insurance to see what they are going to do about compensation.