One woman owns two of the vehicles that now sit melted and charred in a small open lot on the 500 block of Gilham Street in Lawndale, right off Rising Sun Avenue. Owners came by this morning, collecting items and surveying the damage in all four vehicles. Passers-by stopped to inspect the scene as well.
Jack Leslie, of Northeast Philadelphia, tells us, "Well I have looked at them, they all look like total wrecks. I used to restore cars. Whoever did it meant business."
A 911 call came in at 3:55 a.m. Thursday. The fire crews were quickly on scene to extinguish the flames that ravaged the vehicles - a Mercury Sable, Ford Explorer, Cadillac Escalade and Chryster 300.
Preliminary information indicates that two of the cars were damaged after the fire spread from the other two vehicles.
Investigators don't know yet what started the fires, but authorities are looking to see if the blaze was started intentionally. A K-9 unit was brought to the scene to sniff around the charred vehicles in an attempt to detect any ignitable fluids.
Samples were taken from different spots as authorities continue to work to determine if this was indeed arson.
Police plan to pull surveillance footage from nearby businesses in hopes they can get some help in this case.
