Recent parking garage and related fires
BY JESSE ROMAN
NEWARK, NEW JERSEY
In January, 17 vehicles were destroyed in a fire in the open-air top floor of a parking structure at Newark International Airport.
BROOKLYN, NEW YORK
A fire last September in a shopping mall parking garage (above) destroyed more than 130 vehicles and injured 21 people, including 18 firefighters, and closed the mall for two days.
UNITED KINGDOM
In 2015, a fire broke out in the cargo hold of ship hauling about 600 new and used vehicles across the English Channel. According to a US National Transportation Safety Board report, electrical arcing in the automatic braking system of a vehicle was responsible for sparking the blaze, resulting in the loss of $90 million in cargo and the destruction of the ship, valued at $10 million.
PARIS, FRANCE
A 2012 fire in a five-story underground garage at the Ritz Carlton destroyed at least 50 vehicles and caused about $5.3 million worth of damage.
JESSE ROMAN is associate editor for NFPA Jorunal. Top Photograph: FDNY