Officials say the fire started at 35 Van Brunt Rd. between Cross Bay Boulevard and Dead End in Far Rockaway just after 10 p.m.
An employee of the laundromat, located at 25-15 Seagirt Blvd. in Far Rockaway, called police around 5:30 a.m. to report a child wandering alone outside without adult supervision.
The officers were responding to a call for shots fired nearby when they crashed.
It comes after a young man went missing while swimming Friday night off Rockaway Beach and he still has not been found.
It happened Saturday just after 6 p.m. near Beach 20th Street.
A group of volunteers is working to protect the piping plover, a vulnerable native bird living along the New York coastline.