1 Injured After 8 Cars Catch Fire In East Patchogue

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 shared by automotive businesses 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 at about 12:20 p.m. The person, who was not identified, suffered minor injuries to their hand, a Brookhaven town spokesman said.

It is not clear if the injured person required medical attention.

The parking lot is shared by Hertz Rent-a-Car, as well as towing and taxi companies, according to a Hertz spokeswoman. She said that none of the company’s cars were involved in the fire, neither were any of its employees.

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."