Van burns at Garden City Park shop

A Mineola boiler repairman stopping for coffee got a quick wake-up Sunday, but not from the caffeine -- his work van suddenly ignited into flames as he waited on line for his morning brew.

Glenn Stewart, 46, had just parked his 2004 Chevrolet Astro minivan in front of the Dunkin' Donuts shop at 2458 Jericho Tpke. in Garden City Park about 8:44 a.m.

He had detected a faint burning odor as he drove, he said, but figured it was coming from outside.

"I thought it was something in the air," Stewart said.

After he got his coffee from the shop that he visits three to four times a day, Stewart, not paying attention to the truck, pulled the driver's side door open.

That's when he saw the flames, which by then had nearly engulfed the van.

Dropping the coffee, he ran to the other side of the van, trying to retrieve a fire extinguisher he kept there, but the smoke caused him to back off, he said.

By this time, the astonished people inside Dunkin' Donuts had called the fire department.

Mineola Fire Department Chief Joe Pratt said crews from his department as well as those of Garden City Park and Williston Park battled the blaze.

Nassau police said 75 firefighters responded to the scene, and 15 employees and customers of the doughnut shop were evacuated.

The van was destroyed, and the fire had spread to the exterior of the doughnut shop, causing about $5,000 to $7,000 of damage, authorities said.

Nassau police said the fire was accidental.

Police said, aside from one firefighter who was injured after falling but refused medical attention, no one else was hurt. When Stewart telephoned his wife to tell her what happened, she was disbelieving and thought the call was a prank.

"I called my wife," he said. "She goes, 'April Fools' joke.' "