A 12-year-old boy put a jack behind a burning Jeep Cherokee to stop it from rolling back into the street Tuesday morning near City Hall.

Flames eventually engulfed the Jeep around 11 a.m. at the corner of Sixth and New Hampshire streets and burned the lift cylinders on the vehicle’s hatchback, which caused a couple of pop-sounding explosions.

The fire and smoke fried the vehicle into a total loss, said Capt. Nathan Stover, of Lawrence-Douglas County Fire & Medical.

Gary Perkins, 12, was riding in the Jeep with his father’s aunt, Estalene Lathrom, who is in her 70s, and her husband, Loman, 77, who drove it. They noticed smoke coming from the engine after they crossed the Kansas River Bridge from North Lawrence.

Eventually the smoke worsened, and Loman Lathrom pulled the vehicle into an entrance to a city parking lot that is located behind the Journal-World’s building.

Lathrom said he couldn’t get the vehicle in gear and it started to roll back into the street as flames crept from the engine.

“I got out to see what was wrong, and then I heard a ‘Boom,'” Gary said. “He told me to get something to stop the car, so I got out a jack and put it behind the tire.”

The couple then left the vehicle and watched with others as firefighters eventually extinguished the flames. Stover said no one was injured. “I’m just glad it didn’t get me,” Gary said.

Lawrence-Douglas County Fire & Medical crews pry back the hood of a scorched Jeep Cherokee as they work to extinguish a car fire near the intersection of Sixth and New Hampshire streets. The Jeep erupted in flames as the driver navigated Sixth Street on Tuesday. The driver and two passengers were not injured.

Employees of The World Company and other passersby helped stop traffic and get the Lathroms and Gary away from the vehicle just before police and firefighters arrived.

“I was just impressed at how fast the (fire) crew got here,” said Amanda Henry, a Journal-World employee.

The Lathroms now live in rural Jefferson County after they sold their North Lawrence home to the city because it flooded frequently. In December, former City Manager Mike Wildgen said the city bought the property to regrade it so it would temporarily hold water during heavy rains and alleviate North Lawrence flooding.

Stover said firefighters were still investigating the fire’s cause. Gary said the Lathroms own another vehicle.