President Joe Biden’s Secret Service rental vehicles were part of a large fire just one day after he left from a Nantucket vacation.
The Monday fire at the Nantucket Memorial Airport in Massachusetts included five vehicles rented from Hertz that were used to transport the president and his family.
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
“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,” the Nantucket Current tweeted in a series of posts alongside videos and pictures of the damage.
“The fire was just 40 feet away from the airport’s 25,000-gallon jet fuel tanks,” the outlet added.
The vehicles involved in the fire included a Chevy Suburban, Ford Explorer, Infiniti QX80, Ford Expedition, and Jeep Gladiator. The Expedition was reportedly under a battery recall, though the source of the fire has not yet been determined.
The airport was briefly closed due to the fire but soon reopened.
Active fire at airport. Cause unknown. Airport closed at this time.
— Nantucket Airport (@AirportACK) November 28, 2022
Airport officials shared a statement about the blaze with the Current.
“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,” the statement said. “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. The Airport is currently coordinating with rental car agencies and agency partners to ensure scene safety, There is no longer an active fire at this time: the Airport is open, and aeronautical operations are not affected,” the statement continued.
The local Inquirer and Mirror newspaper also posted images of the burned vehicles on Monday, noting that the fire occurred in the overflow parking lot.
The investigation is ongoing, and no results have been made public.
Several vehicles heavily damaged in rental-car lot at #Nantucket Memorial Airport Monday morning:https://t.co/P3DXg3XCBz pic.twitter.com/0zkzChZLYX
— Inquirer and Mirror (@InkyM) November 28, 2022
The president and first lady Jill Biden stayed at a location along Nantucket Harbor over the Thanksgiving holiday weekend, part of a decades-long family tradition. Nantucket is a small island about 30 miles off the coast of Cape Cod.
In a strange twist, the Bidens visited the Nantucket Fire Department last week to thank firefighters for their service. The Bidens gave firefighters pumpkin pies from Pie Shop in Washington D.C., according to the Nantucket Current.