NEW YORK — A massive fire tore through in an NYPD warehouse in Brooklyn Tuesday, destroying DNA evidence and potentially endangering multiple criminal cases, NYPD and FDNY officials said.
The blaze broke out at the Erie Basin Auto Pound on Columbia St. in Red Hook about 10:30 a.m., authorities said. The flames may have been sparked by an ion-lithium battery that was being stored at the impound yard on the property, according to a preliminary investigation, fire department sources said.
Fourteen NYPD employees and six contractors were working in the warehouse when one of the contractors saw smoke coming from a “high shelf,” said NYPD Chief of Department Jeffrey Maddrey.
