Dry Leaves Destroyed 3-4 Cars Per Year In 1 Essex County Town: Fire Chief

ESSEX COUNTY, NJ — Who would have thought that parking on piles of dry leaves can actually destroy your car? It used to happen in one Essex County town three to four times each year, although the instances are decreasing, that town's fire chief said this week in an effort to warn
people.

(It also happened in an episode of "The Sopranos," in which Anthony Junior parked on a dry leaf pile and it set his vehicle aflame. That kid just couldn't catch a break.)

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"Luckily, we have not lost any cars in the past couple of years due to leaves," Livingston Fire Chief Chris Mullin told Patch on Tuesday, "but we have in the past."

In fact, in the past, the community would lose "three to four" cars each year, he said, but awareness has cut the number.

Mullin said that “car fire season,” occurs in October and November, because cars park on piles of leaves left curbside for pickup.

He said the catalytic converter, which converts gases from the car into more environmentally friendly gases, can heat up the leaves under the car and cause a fire.

Leaf collection programs in many towns began late last month. In Millburn, they run through late December. See the Millburn leaf collection calendar here.

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