Three firefighters were seriously injured when a massive blaze engulfed the NYPD's auto impound in Brooklyn Tuesday morning destroying a litany of cars, many considered to be evidence in crimes.
Fire officials said eight people suffered minor injuries in the three-alarm fire started around 10:37am at the Erie Basin Auto Pound on Columbia Street in Red Hook, Brooklyn.
More than 30 units were deployed and 140 firefighters responded.
Fire Chief John Hodgens said firefighters attempted an interior fire attack but quickly became 'overwhelmed' and switched to an exterior attack. A section of the building later collapsed with officials saying the fire could for several days.
The NYPD uses the auto pound to house illegal dirt bikes and ATVs cops seize from city streets. Vehicles that are evidence in crime investigations, such as cars that victims were shot inside, are kept there as well, The Daily News reported.
Fire officials said the three-alarm fire that started around 10:37am at the Erie Basin Auto Pound on Columbia Street in Red Hook, Brooklyn
Vehicles that are evidence in crime investigations, such as cars that victims were shot inside, are housed at the site, including illegal dirt bikes and ATVs cops have seized from city streets
More than 30 units were deployed and 140 firefighters responded to the fiery blaze
In 2012, the same auto pound facility was hit during Hurricane Sandy, and evidence was ruined, sources said, The New York Post reported.
Some of the cars that were set ablaze include vehicles that were used by officers who were killed in the line-of-duty.
The squad car that officer Eddie Byrne, who was shot in 1988 while he was sitting in his car, is at the lot, as well as the car where officer Miosotis Familia was killed execution-style in 2017.
The 48-year-old mother of three was shot in the head by Alexander Bonds, 38, who was then shot dead by police
Familia was shot at her through the passenger side window of her police vehicle near the intersection of 183rd Street and Grand Concourse in the Bronx.
Bonds had sought psychiatric care days before the shooting. He randomly targeted Familia after he had raged against police officers on social media.
Miosotis was a 12-year veteran of the NYPD left behind a 20-year-old daughter and 12-year-old twins, a boy and a girl.
The cause of the fire is still unknown.
In 2012, the same auto pound facility was hit during Hurricane Sandy, and evidence was ruined, sources said, The New York Post reported.
Rookie NYPD Officer Eddie Byrne had been on the force just seven months when he was brutally murdered in South Jamaica. He was 22.
The officer had been protecting a witness in a drug case when a suspect walked up to his marked vehicle and shot him five times in the head.
Drug Lord and reputed gangster Lorenzo 'Fat Cat' Nichols was linked to Byrne's brutal murder and the mastermind behind two others murders, including his ex girlfriend. He is currently serving a 25-years to life sentence.
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