A car carrier loaded with nine vehicles burned for hours on the Thruway just south of Kingston yesterday, closing traffic in both directions for much of the afternoon, according to a press release from the State Police.
Several of the cars being hauled reportedly exploded, spewing debris over both lanes, as firefighters from multiple departments battled the flames. No injuries were reported. The Daily Freeman has some pretty stunning photographs.
Here's the full press release from the State Police:
A car carrier transporting 9 vehicles caught fire southbound on the NYS Thruway just south of the Kingston exit. Southbound traffic was stopped immediately. Several cars on the carrier caught fire and exploded throwing debris across the northbound lanes forcing the closure of those lanes for a brief time until the fire was extinguished. Bloomington FD, Ulster Hose FD, Rosendale FD and East Kingston FD were on scene battling the blaze. The southbound lanes were closed from 2:35PM until 4:30PM when one lane was opened with all lanes open at 5:23PM. The car carrier and 7 of the 9 cars were destroyed in the fire. The vehicles were owned by Nissan of Saratoga, they were being transported by J&D Car Carrier Corp from Westbury, NY. The driver was B. Torres-Melendez, 32, of Uniondale, NY. There were no injuries reported.
