Aftermath of a Greenwood Heights Car Roast

The corner of 23rd Street and Seventh Avenue looks bad enough because of the longstanding construction site that was to be the Minerva Building, but the burned carcass of a what might have been a Hyundai Rav 4 has been added to the mix. The car went up on Friday night and, of course, the action video is below. This was the aftermath yesterday afternoon. Here's a description from Aaron Brashear of Concerned Citizens of Greenwood Heights, who we normally hear from in the context of development-related issues in the neighborhood:

Last night, Friday 02.15.08 around 8pm. We're inside making dinner and *POP*, *POP*, *BOOM*! Out the front door, look down the street to see some teenage girls yelling "*Oh, sh*t, that's our car*!" Look up the block, still dark, but smoky and *BOOM*!

The car, a SUV or Mini-Van (hard to tell now) burst into flames. Corner of 7th Ave and 23rd St. The FDNY and 72nd Pct. were here in record time. No one was hurt, though a resident of 320 23rd St's car suffered some minor damage due to the explosion. Quite a fire...not being a purveyor of car fires myself.

A long time resident swore it was an "insurance job," since the car went up so fast...I'll let the police, fire dept. and the insurance companies figure that one out.