ROCHELLE — A vehicle was a total loss after a car fire in Rochelle on Saturday morning, Rochelle Fire Department Firefighter/Paramedic Brian Edwards said.

First responders were called to 1215 6th Ave. at 9:21 a.m. on Saturday for a car fire and Rochelle Police Department Officers on scene reported the fire to be fully involved. The fire was in the engine compartment and the windshield area at the front of the vehicle and was quickly extinguished, Edwards said. The entire engine compartment of the vehicle burned. There were no injuries to anyone involved and no other cars or dwellings were impacted.

The state fire marshal was on scene and an investigation into the cause of the fire is ongoing. RPD Deputy Chief Phil Frankenberry said the circumstances may have involved foul play.

“There were some witnesses that said there was a bottle by the front tire full of an unknown liquid and that was where the flames came from that ultimately engulfed the whole car,” Frankenberry said. “At this time we don't believe it was an overheating of the car causing the fire because it had been parked there for a while.”

The vehicle was processed by the state fire marshal and RPD will soon get a report on what the liquid was and whether it was the point of ignition, Frankenberry said. 

“The investigation is still active and we have no leads at this point,” Frankenberry said. “We did locate the owner of the vehicle in his home. Witnesses in the area said a vehicle that is not from here was driving around, but nobody saw the bottle thrown from the vehicle. It is under investigation. Once we get the report back from the state fire marshal we'll know more. At this point we don't know what the ignition source was and what that bottle and liquid were.”

Rochelle Fire, some off-duty personnel and Flagg Center Fire responded to the scene. Edwards said the vehicle was a large SUV and the fire did not make its way to potentially-dangerous areas at the rear of the vehicle.

"Flammable liquids are always dangerous," Edwards said. "The fire never made it to the gas tank in the rear of the vehicle. You have to worry about wires burning that can electrically spark. If there's a hatch on the vehicle the lift cylinders that hold the tailgate up are a danger when fighting a car fire. I don't think any of that was involved in this and it was just in the engine compartment. It was out in the street and not near anything."