More Than 2 Dozen Uber Vehicles Destroyed In Fire Behind Hotel

MELVILLE, NY — More than two dozen Uber vehicles were destroyed and 20-30 more were damaged in a fire in a storage lot behind a Long Island hotel Monday afternoon, authorities said. Two firefighters were injured battling the blaze.

A vehicle being stored in the lot behind the Hilton Long Island Huntington at 598 Broadhollow Road in Melville caught fire around 2:45 p.m., police said. The flames spread to other vehicles.

The Melville Fire Department was the lead agency on the scene, with the first firefighters arriving to find multiple cars burning in a fenced-off parking lot with over 1,000 vehicles parked 6 inches apart, public information Officer Steve Silverman said.

"The fire was apparently caused by a vehicle that overheated and caught fire, ultimately spreading to 26 other cars that were completely destroyed and damaging another 20 to 30 vehicles," Silverman wrote in an email.

Melville fire Chief David Kaplan, who led the firefighting operation, estimated the damage to be more than $1 million.

A combined 60 firefighters using 12 trucks from Melville, Plainview, East Farmingdale, Dix Hills and Huntington Manor fire departments, had the fire contained within an hour. Greenlawn Fire Department provided standby coverage for Melville.

An East Farmingdale firefighter was treated at the scene for heat exhaustion, while a Melville firefighter suffered an eye injury and was brought to Plainview Hospital, Silverman said.

Photos of the fire: