[Video] Gerritsen Firefighters Battle For Hours To Put Out Suspicious Car Fire

Volunteer firefighters in Gerritsen Beach worked for more than two hours to extinguish a blazing SUV that was discovered early Sunday morning in Marine Park.

Doreen Garson, chief of the Gerritsen Beach Volunteer Fire Department said the vehicle was likely set on fire intentionally and reminded her of the days when the area was a dumping ground for stolen vehicles and people looking to commit insurance fraud.

“I can’t imagine how else the car would have caught fire,” she said. “It was like it used to be before locks were put in the gates. There used to be a lot of cars. People just went back there to do insurance jobs or whatever.”

The fire was reported by a neighbor at 3am, who spotted flames just east of Everett and Gerritsen avenues, said Garson. When workers arrived, the blaze had spread to the surrounding brush. Members of the FDNY also arrived to help put out the fire, Garson said.

A video posted on the Gerritsen Beach Fire Department’s Facebook page shows the fury of the blaze.

https://youtu.be/QkaCMTOozyA

“Years ago, our standard operating procedure was to just grab a couple of shovels and throw some sand and you could put it out. But this thing was really fully engulfed by the time we got in there,” Garson said of Sunday’s fire.

Car fires have been less common in the park for the last 10 years, when the city installed locks on the gates, Garson said. However, another burning car was discovered in the area just last spring.

Jameson Wells, the executive director of Gerritsen Beach Cares, said that whoever started the car fire on Sunday would have needed keys to open the gates. He suggested the city install lights and cameras at park entrances in order to deter criminal behavior.

“There’s only a few organizations that need to have keys. And somehow, somebody is opening, unlocking, and then re-locking the gate. And we can’t get to the bottom of it,” he said.

We’re still waiting for a reply from the FDNY about whether investigators have determined the cause of Sunday’s car fire. We’ll update this story when they respond.