Air conditioner stopped working; we pulled to side of street and shut engine off. Restarted engine and smoke started coming out of air conditioner vent on passenger side then out of front dash. Shut engine off again and called AAA for tow truck. Tow truck came about an hour and a half later. Tow truck driver turned ignition key to put car in neutral and began pulling it up onto flat bed. Smoke started coming from front area of dash and out through vents at bottom of windshield. Tow truck driver rolled car back down onto street. Smoke got extremely thick. My husband opened front passenger door and saw fire in the floor under the glove box. He tried to pick up this piece of equipment to throw it out of the car thinking it would save the rest of the vehicle, and this is how he got burned fingers. The fire quickly started spreading and we tried to get some belongings out of car while tow truck driver called 911. Fire Department came and put out fire. Vehicle was totally burned up. There were no warnings of any kind before the incident. Husband had third degree burns on fingers of right hand. If we hadn't been stopped and engine shut off, we possibly could have been killed because the vehicle was totally engulfed in flames within three minutes after fire began.