1 Injured After 8 Cars Catch Fire At Hertz In East Patchogue

Patchogue NY

28 July, 2021

3:11 PM

Description

EAST PATCHOGUE, NY — Area firefighters rushed to the scene of a fire that broke out — damaging eight cars and injuring one person — in a parking lot behind Hertz on Medford Avenue in East Patchogue on Wednesday afternoon. Suffolk police said officers from the 5th Precinct responded to a call of a vehicle fire in a parking lot about 12:20 p.m. The person, who was not identified, suffered minor injuries to a hand, a Brookhaven town spokesman said. It is not clear if the injured person required medical attention. Brookhaven's fire marshal office, which investigated, considers the fire "accidental in nature," a spokesman said. The fire started when a worker was removing a catalytic converter from a vehicle while using a cutting torch and the vehicle caught fire, the spokesman said, adding, that the worker believed that he extinguished the fire, but it spread to seven other vehicles. Emergency Patches reported the vehicles were "destroyed" and a portion of Route 112 was closed while "firefighters from multiple departments responded to extinguish the blaze."