MMC02212020 - Page 24

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 ��