Two D.C. Ambulances Burn; Cops Probing Cause

WASHINGTON (WUSA9) -- Metropolitan Police Department officials are investigating two ambulance fires on Tuesday.

The first fire happened shortly after 9:30 a.m. at the 4700 block of Benning Rd. SE. The second fire happened at approximately 4:00 p.m. at the Washington Hospital Center.

"Due to the highly coincidental occurrence of experiencing two vehicle fires in the same day, the department has taken this step to ensure that an outside review of the incident is performed." officials said in a news release.

WUSA 9's Delia Goncalves reported from D.C.'s maintenance yard on Wednesday morning. The maintenance yard has been very busy throughout all the breakdowns.

Many people are saying they think that these ambulances are dangerously unreliable. The fires comes just one week after a unit assigned to the President's motorcade ran out of gas. These are the latest in a string of problems at D.C. Fire EMS that now has Council Chairman Phil Mendelson calling this situation a departmental meltdown.

"What I think is happening here. There's been some issues about maintenance. There's been some issues about adequacy of the fleet. Clearly there are personnel that aren't happy," D.C. Council Chairman Phil Mendelson said.

The good news is no one was hurt during the fires that happened.

Republished with permission of WUSA9.com.