Massive fire breaks out at NYPD impound, evidence warehouse in Brooklyn

RED HOOK, Brooklyn (WABC) — A massive fire broke out at an NYPD impound and evidence storage warehouse in Brooklyn on Tuesday morning.

The fire appears to have started at a warehouse on Columbia Street in Red Hook that is part of the Erie Basin Marine Pound.

As crews use drones and boats to work to put out the fire, officials say it’s possible it could still burn for days before it’s fully extinguished.

Officials with the FDNY said at least eight people were injured, but they were all believed to be minor injuries. That included three firefighters, three with EMS and two civilians.

The severity of the damage to the warehouse is not yet known, but once it is safe, investigators will determine the cause of the fire and survey the extent of the damage.

NYPD officials said evidence stored at the warehouse goes back years but the magnitude of what was destroyed is not yet known.

The building is one of five warehouses where the NYPD stores vehicles that are confiscated. They also use the warehouse to store evidence that is too large to fit in normal storage areas.

Some of the vehicles being stored in the warehouse include ATVs and electric bikes, but the NYPD takes special precautions to detach the ion-lithium batteries so they don’t catch fire. The NYPD hosted a demolition of ATVs and dirt bikes at this location back in 2016.

There are also thousands of NYPD vehicles parked on the connecting pier.

There were 33 fire units were on scene with 140 firefighters battling the flames.

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