Will Koolman Fire Melt Ice Cream Dreams?

A smoky fire tonight inside 152 Grand Street in Williamsburg may mean less ice cream trucks on North Brooklyn streets and could threaten the livelihood of dozens of immigrant workers, just as the the soft-serve season gets underway.

Things heated up inside the garage that houses dozens of Koolman ice cream trucks shortly before 10 pm Tuesday evening. The blaze, which firefighters attacked from both Grand Street and South First, appeared to damage a number of the vending trucks (some are over 40 years old) as well as the structure itself.

A 2002 profile of Koolman in the Brooklyn Rail describes a locally-owned company marked by its strong work ethic, with many drivers who own and painstakingly maintain their trucks, and "return to their far-flung homes of Ecuador, Puerto Rico and Santo Domingo" during winter downtime.

Koolman Fire Photoset [imjustsayin/Flickr]

Koolman Ice Cream Truck History [Brooklyn Rail]