A fleet of vehicles rented by President Joe Biden’s Secret Service detail during his Nantucket trip for Thanksgiving were destroyed by fire a day after he left.
The vehicles had been rented by the Biden party, consisting of a Chevrolet Suburban, Ford Explorer, Infiniti QX80, a Ford Expedition, and a Jeep Gladiator. They caught fire in a car park at Nantucket Memorial Airport and while no one was injured in the blaze, the fire is being investigated by the authorities.
Footage taken at the scene and shared to social media shows that the front fascia of all five cars were severely damaged but that the blaze was extinguished before it completely engulfed all five vehicles.
A large car fire involving multiple rental vehicles at Nantucket Memorial Airport is now out. There were no injuries reported but at least four cars sustained significant damage. #nantucket pic.twitter.com/VF7Zh7qoot
— Nantucket Current (@ACKCurrent) November 28, 2022
“At approximately 5:22 am, Airport shift staff observed an active fire in the rental car overflow area through the Airport’s Closed-Circuit Television System,” Nantucket Airport said on Twitter. “Staff activated the Alert system and responded to the fire in Airport-3, where they were met by responding units from Nantucket Fire Department and Nantucket Police Department. Combined fire resources responded and contained the fire. Several vehicles were damaged.”
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The Nantucket Current says that the flames spread to within 40 feet (12 m) of the airport’s 25,000-gallon jet fuel tanks. All five vehicles are owned by Hertz with a report stating that the Ford Expedition was involved in a battery recall but had not had its battery swapped out at the time of the fire.
President Joe Biden had been in Nantucket with his family to celebrate Thanksgiving and visited the Nantucket Police Department during his trip.
These are the rental vehicles that were facing each other and had their front ends totaled by the fire. Five are being towed away:
• Chevy Suburban
• Ford Explorer
• Infiniti QX80
• Ford Expedition
• Jeep Gladiator pic.twitter.com/NWnuFs8ivj— Nantucket Current (@ACKCurrent) November 28, 2022
The cars were owned by Hertz, and had just been returned by members of the Secret Service who had been using them during President Biden’s visit, sources said.
The Ford Expedition was under a battery recall by the manufacturer and had recently had the battery switched out. pic.twitter.com/CQzI5w0k2U
— Nantucket Current (@ACKCurrent) November 28, 2022