Photo courtesy New Columbia Heights.

Back in September, we reported on an alarming uptick of suspicious car fires in Columbia Heights — many of which the fire department classified as “mechanical” fires, rather than arson. The frequency of car fires around the area subsided after we wrote that post — but early on Wednesday morning, another car, a Nissan SUV, exploded into flames on the 1500 block of Spring Road NW. DCist contributor Andrew Wiseman has a reader of his New Columbia Heights blog who witnessed the latest incident:

We were worried that the power lines were going to catch on fire the flames were shooting so high. The photo doesnt even really capture how intense it was – but it’s a start. the actually first “blast” shook our house, and then there were repeated blasts following that, as more windows blew out.

Intense. According to a message sent by Metropolitan Police Department Lieutenant Shane Lamond to the police’s Fourth District listserv yesterday, investigators who responded to the scene of the car fire “were not able to determine if it was deliberately set or if the vehicle caught fire due to natural causes.” However, sources with the police department tell DCist that Wednesday’s Spring Road fire has also been ruled “mechanical.” It should be noted that detectives with the fire department, not MPD, make determinations regarding the cause of fires.

The last we heard from the fire department in September was that the investigation into whether or not an arsonist was targeting vehicles in Columbia Heights was ongoing. Back in September, both Ward 1 Councilmember Jim Graham and MPD Chief Cathy Lanier also promised follow-up on the issue, but little, if any, additional information about that string of fires has been uncovered.