Smoked out
A fi re tore through two two-story houses in Bensonhurst on Feb. 14.
Citizen
COURIER L 24 IFE, FEBRUARY 21-27, 2020
A van plowed into two cars and a light pole in a hit-and-run in Flatlands.
Photo by Todd Maisel
BY TODD MAISEL
Police are searching for
the driver of a dollar van who
hit two vehicles and crashed
into a light pole, before abandoning
the vehicle at the
scene in Flatlands on Thursday
evening, according to authorities.
No one was reported injured
in the chaos, but the
incident resulted in “extensive”
damage to the cars, police
from the 63rd Precinct
said.
The mayhem began at
about 4:45 pm near Flatbush
and Utica avenues after the
van driver smashed into a
silver Subaru — and then
tried to fl ee, according to police.
The Subaru driver
then gave chase toward
Schenectady Avenue and Avenue
I, where the van driver
plowed into a Volkswagen —
before speeding into a nearby
light pole, cops said.
The fugitive driver then
jumped out of the van and
ran from the scene before police
arrived, according to authorities.
BY ROSE ADAMS
A three-alarm blaze ripped
through two Bensonhurst
houses on Feb. 14, injuring one
fi refi ghter and displacing 29
residents, according to authorities.
The inferno erupted on
the second fl oor of a two-story
house on 85th Street between
19th and 20th avenues just before
11:38 pm, before spreading
to the neighboring house by
12:15 am, according to the fi re
department.
“We found a fi re in basically
every fl oor in both buildings,”
Deputy Chief David Maj
told Loudlabs on the scene. “It
was very diffi cult to locate the
fi re in the old buildings.”
More than 130 smoke eaters
arrived at the scene and
put the fi re under control by
12:48 am on Feb. 15, according
to a Fire Department spokesman,
who said that one fi refi
ghter sustained minor injuries
and was treated at the
scene.
The Red Cross also rushed to
the fi re to provide clothes, food,
and shelter for the seven families
that live in the two buildings,
said Red Cross spokesman
Michael De Vulpillieres.
Reps with the Red Cross
took 25 adults and four children
to a nearby hotel for the
weekend, and will refer them
to the city’s Department of
Housing Preservation and
Development to fi nd replacement
housing, De Vulpillieres
said.
Neighbors said that the
enormous blaze sent shockwaves
through the neighborhood.
“It was defi nitely a bad
fi re,” said Amelija S., who lives
across the street.
Dollar van hit-and-run
Bensonhurst fi re displaces 29 residents, injures fi refi ghter