Photo: Nantucket Current via Twitter
A fire involving multiple rental vehicles broke out at Nantucket Memorial Airport on Monday, destroying five vehicles in a rental car overflow lot. Investigators focused on a white Ford Expedition rented by the Secret Service for President Biden’s holiday visit to Nantucket.
Investigation into the fire that consumed several rental vehicles in a parking lot at the Nantucket Memorial Airport on Monday showed that the fire started from a white Ford Expedition. Airport staff spotted the fire at around 5:22 am on the airport’s video surveillance system and activated the alert system. Thankfully, no injuries were reported, but five vehicles sustained significant damage.
Although the official cause of the fire is undetermined, the investigation showed that the fire was not suspicious. Local fire officials’ findings did not stop the national conspiracy theories, though, especially as the vehicles involved were previously rented by the Secret Service for President Biden’s Thanksgiving visit to Nantucket.
The Secret Service confirmed that it rented the vehicles for the President’s trip and dropped the SUVs off at Hertz on Sunday night. Nevertheless, they had no issues with the rented SUVs while driving them, and Biden’s visit ended uneventfully.
“We were made aware of one Ford SUV catching fire early Monday morning,” read the Secret Service’s statement cited by Automotive News. “That SUV was parked next to several other vehicles, which also caught fire because of the proximity to the Ford SUV. We had no issues when we drove the vehicles, and they were returned without incident. The Ford SUV that caught fire was a Secret Service support vehicle and not used to transport any protectees.”
The 2021 Ford Expedition that is believed to be the source of the fire was recalled in May for a problem with the battery junction box that could cause an underhood fire. In the recall notice, Ford advised Expedition owners to park outside and away from structures when possible. According to the NHTSA, the recall affected 66k SUVs produced between July 27th, 2020, and August 31st, 2021. Before the recall, Ford recorded 21 underhood fire incidents, with 18 impacting rental vehicles.
Although the official cause of the fire is undetermined, the investigation showed that the fire was not suspicious. Local fire officials’ findings did not stop the national conspiracy theories, though, especially as the vehicles involved were previously rented by the Secret Service for President Biden’s Thanksgiving visit to Nantucket.
The Secret Service confirmed that it rented the vehicles for the President’s trip and dropped the SUVs off at Hertz on Sunday night. Nevertheless, they had no issues with the rented SUVs while driving them, and Biden’s visit ended uneventfully.
“We were made aware of one Ford SUV catching fire early Monday morning,” read the Secret Service’s statement cited by Automotive News. “That SUV was parked next to several other vehicles, which also caught fire because of the proximity to the Ford SUV. We had no issues when we drove the vehicles, and they were returned without incident. The Ford SUV that caught fire was a Secret Service support vehicle and not used to transport any protectees.”
The 2021 Ford Expedition that is believed to be the source of the fire was recalled in May for a problem with the battery junction box that could cause an underhood fire. In the recall notice, Ford advised Expedition owners to park outside and away from structures when possible. According to the NHTSA, the recall affected 66k SUVs produced between July 27th, 2020, and August 31st, 2021. Before the recall, Ford recorded 21 underhood fire incidents, with 18 impacting rental vehicles.
The fire was just 40 feet away from the airport’s 25,000-gallon jet fuel tanks pic.twitter.com/epUYERWN6Y
— Nantucket Current (@ACKCurrent) November 28, 2022
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