MUNCIE, IN - A case of spontaneous police car combustion filled the Muncie Police Department's garage with thick, black smoke on the night of August 4, damaging nine other vehicles inside the garage, according to The Star Press.
No one was in the garage when a 2006 Ford Crown Victoria belonging to the traffic enforcement division caught fire around 11:20 p.m. The car was destroyed.
Heat and smoke from the car fire also damaged a box van used for SWAT operations, a van used in crash investigations, a recreational vehicle used as the department's "mobile command center," three Ford Explorers, and three Hummers.
These nine other vehicles remained out of commission until police and mechanics could determine what kind of damage they suffered.
It was unclear what caused the police car to go down in flames.
An insurance representative on site Thursday told The Star Press the fire was a "covered loss," but that there would be some direct costs to the city in deductibles.
The garage suffered some smoke and heat damage, but was mostly unaffected by the fire, according to the newspaper.
