Police Car Fire Results In $25,000 Loss 

By Andrew Gorosko

An accidental fire that destroyed a police patrol car on July 10 caused approximately $25,000 in damage, Deputy Fire Marshal Rich Frampton said this week.

Mr Frampton said the $25,000 figure covers the value of the marked Ford Crown Victoria sedan, which had about 105,000 miles on its odometer, plus the various specialized electronic equipment within the vehicle that was destroyed by the blaze.

The firm that insures the town’s police vehicles has decided against having an insurance investigator seek the specific cause of the fire, which has been ruled accidental, Mr Frampton said. There were no injuries in the fire. The town will submit a claim to the insurance firm.

Police Officer Steve Ketchum, who is a deputy fire marshal and the police department’s fire investigator, aided Mr Frampton in probing the vehicle fire.

The fire destroyed the patrol car while it was parked with its engine off in front of the police station at 3 Main Street at about 1:39 am on July 10.

The destroyed car was on the verge of being replaced by a new patrol car, which police have received. Although police have a new replacement car, they do not have the electronic equipment that would have been removed from the now-destroyed car and placed in the new vehicle. That equipment includes a mobile computer system, two-way radio, radar gear, video camera, and roof-mounted emergency lights.

The vehicle that was destroyed by fire was parked near the southeastern corner of the parking lot in front of the police station. That area is covered by police video surveillance cameras.

A wrecker driver who was traveling by the police station noticed that the parked police car was on fire and called the emergency communications center in the police station to alert police at about 1:39 am. A dispatcher there then placed a fire call to Newtown Hook & Ladder, which responded to the scene to extinguish the blaze.

According to the images seen on a surveillance recording, smoke was visible emanating from the police car about 15 minutes earlier, Mr Frampton has said.

Maureen Will oversees the town’s emergency communications center. The communications center is equipped with video screens that display the views observed and recorded by surveillance cameras at the police station.

Ms Will said that she reviewed the video recordings of the parking lot made during the time period after the vehicle fire had started but before the fire was reported by the passerby.

Based on the outdoor conditions at the time of the incident, it was not surprising that the vehicle fire went unnoticed by dispatchers in the communications center before it was reported by the passerby, she said.

Based on the location of the vehicle, the darkness, and the weather conditions at the time, the vehicle fire was not that obvious on a surveillance screen, she said.

During the earlier stages of the vehicle fire, the smoke dissipated away from the vehicle, traveling across Main Street, she said. Also, the flickering headlamps of vehicles passing by on Main Street created distracting conditions on a surveillance screen, she said.

Also, dispatchers are occupied with many tasks in the communications center and have multiple views from various surveillance cameras on display, she noted.