Vehicles were damaged or destroyed in four separate fires over several days in Bloomington, Indiana earlier this week. The Bloomingtonian reached out to the Bloomington Fire Department to find out more.
On July 2nd a vehicle caught fire after a stray firework began smoldering in the engine compartment. Firefighters forced open the hood when a cable release wasn’t functioning and extinguished the fire.
Then a 2016 Ford F150 caught fire around 11:31 p.m. July 3, 2022, when the debris from used fireworks were placed in the bed of the truck. The fire spread from the vehicle to a nearby garage creating a structure fire.
At 12:40 a.m. on the 4th of July, firefighters were dispatched to a used car lot at 310 S. Muller Parkway after a report of an SUV fully engulfed in flames. Firefighters found a Ford Explorer on fire and the back of it was full of burning garbage.
A business owner provided access to video surveillance at the business to investigators from the Bloomington Police Department, and a man was seen throwing an accelerant on the vehicle and then running from the scene.
“We were able to watch the Video of a Person unknown cross the street from South to North go between to cars and make their way to the Explorer. At that time it appeared that the Person using some can of accelerant began to dump it in the side window on the east side of the vehicle and then make their way around to the back and poured something in the back window,” according to a Bloomington Fire Department report. Investigators noted the person starting the fire appeared to be injured in an explosion as a result of setting the blaze.
Finally, on July 6, 2022, around 12:58 a.m., a green Kia Soul parked in the front parking lot at an auto-body repair shop on South Walnut, was damaged in a fire. The vehicle was “well-involved” when firefighters arrived, but the horn was sounding.
The vehicle had been damaged in a collision and parked at the business for several months because of a dispute between the owner and an insurance company.
“The fire started in the passenger compartment between the passenger seat and the center console. The window was broken out, the passenger seat was laid back and there were blankets and clothing in the backseat. It is suspected to be used by a homeless person to sleep,” according to a report from the Bloomington Fire Department.
