A massive plume of smoke was seen rising from outside Hard Rock Stadium during the Miami Dolphins game Sunday after officials said several cars caught fire in the parking lot.
The fire broke out as the Dolphins were taking on the New England Patriots inside the stadium.
According to Miami-Dade Fire Rescue officials, at least eight cars were on fire in the remote parking lot outside the stadium.
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Video showed a big cloud of black smoke coming out of the parking lot just outside the stadium.
"It was probably in the second or third quarter, we saw a lot of black smoke coming from the megatron," fan Mike Darwish said.
Most of the car owners didn’t even know their cars caught fire until they walked out of the stadium at the end of the game.
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Scott Dellorfano, the owner of one of the cars that went up in flames, said his expensive Mercedes S63 was a total loss. He said he had $3,000 cash in the car as well.
"They said a grill caught on fire, it set off another car that blew up and it took our 5 or 6 cars. That's what the police told me. I got insurance, you call stadium legal people, and then go from there," Dellorfano said.
Dellorfano said the police told him someone left a hot grill under a car with carbon and that the car caught on fire which passed to the other cars.
More than 10 Miami-Dade Fire units worked to get the fire under control and authorities said there were no reported injuries.
All of the cars were later removed from the parking lot.
Fire officials said the exact cause of the fire remains under investigation.
