Thanksgiving manhole fire destroys family’s car, little girl’s birthday presents in Brooklyn

A small girl’s day plans went up successful fume aft a manhole fire dispersed to engulf her family’s car — and each her presents — successful Brooklyn connected Thanksgiving, the girl’s parent said.

“A batch of presents [were destroyed],” said 43-year-old Suelin Chen. “My daughter’s devastated.”

The two-alarm electrical fire ignited wrong a manhole connected Remsen St. adjacent Hicks St. successful Brooklyn Heights astir noon and consumed Chen’s Subaru SUV parked nearby, FDNY Deputy Chief Stephen Corcoran said.

The FDNY said 25 units representing 106 firefighters and EMS unit responded to the blaze. No injuries were reported.

An SUV parked connected Remsen St. was burned by a manhole occurrence connected Thursday, Nov. 28, 2024. (Theodore Parisienne for New York Daily News)

Chen, her hubby and their 2 daughters, including the day girl, who turned 8 connected Thanksgiving this year, drove down to Brooklyn from Massachusetts connected Wednesday for a planned weeklong travel to sojourn friends for the holiday.

The small day miss had been looking guardant to blowing retired candles and eating immoderate barroom astatine a enactment successful New Jersey Thursday night. But the blaze near her household stranded successful Brooklyn and the miss successful tears, her parent said.

“The car was wholly burnt,” Chen said. “We had a ton of worldly successful there, my kids’ bikes, a scarf I spent implicit a twelvemonth knitting for my daughter, their shoes, books, iPads — everything got burnt up.

“My girl cried a lot,” she added.

A Subaru SUV parked successful Brooklyn Heights caught occurrence connected Thursday. (Theodore Parisienne for New York Daily News)

Chen said that Con Edison workers offered her household apologies astatine the country but she’s hoping the vigor supplier volition springiness much than condolences successful airy of their damaged property.

“I cognize it’s Thanksgiving but it would beryllium large if we could get immoderate benignant of reassurances,” she said. “This is simply a batch of wealth for my household and we’re not definite however we’re going to get backmost home.

“Obviously, it’s conscionable stuff, but astatine the aforesaid clip I truly anticipation that Con Ed volition instrumentality attraction of it.”

Con Edison did not instantly respond to a petition for comment.

As firefighters rushed to extinguish the flames engulfing Chen’s Subaru, a occurrence broke retired wrong a fourth-floor flat located adjacent connected Remsen St.

Firefighters had to hold for Con Edison to get and unopen disconnected powerfulness to the gathering earlier battling that blaze, which caused extended harm and near a household displaced connected Thanksgiving.

Corcoran said that the flat occurrence was apt related to the manhole fire, too.

“The origin of the occurrence successful the building, which we’re assuming is correlated to the electrical occurrence successful the street, is inactive nether investigation,” helium said.