Whether by crash, arson or design, cars catch fire and there’s not a single clean burning one among them. Last year, nearly 9,000 cars were burned during seventeen days of civil unrest in France. How were so many cars burned? Slate offers a tip:

The easiest way to torch a car would be to crack open a window, douse the interior with lighter fluid, and toss in a match. If the windows aren’t open or smashed, a car fire will burn itself out for lack of oxygen. (The heat, soot, and smoke from one of these contained fires will often total a car all the same.)

These photos were taken over the last few months in Brooklyn and Queens (many around the time of the B train fire on the Manhattan Bridge)