ORLANDO, Fla. – An Orange County auto shop sustained extensive damage early Tuesday when it caught fire.
The fire was reported around 5 a.m. at Cars and More European Car Service Center on Colonial Drive near Dean Road.
Orange County Fire Rescue tweeted that the fire appeared to have started inside the building before spreading to some cars outside the shop.
“There was a roof collapse and walls collapsing in the back of the building," said Mike Wajda, OCFR division chief. “We had to pull our firefighters away from the building for their safety. The back of this building is an auto repair shop and essentially was completely consumed by fire and the roof collapsed over that repair shop.”
BREAKING: @OCFireRescue on the scene of a fire at an auto repair shop on E Colonial Dr near Dean Rd. Extensive damage inside. WB Colonial is blocked as crews work to extinguish the flames. pic.twitter.com/fvNeltJacB
— Mark Lehman (@MarkLehman6) May 5, 2020
About 45 firefighters battled the blaze. No one was injured in the fire, but several cars inside the shop were destroyed, Wajda said.
“There are a couple of things that made this fire difficult. There’s a very heavy fuel load inside an auto repair shop,” Wajda said. “You have things like fuel in the vehicles and chemicals that are used in the repair process and then just the huge volume of fire. It takes a lot of effort to put a fire out like that.”
According to the auto shop’s website, the company does AC, transmission and engine repair and more.
The cause of the fire is under investigation.
Westbound Colonial Drive was blocked in the area by fire trucks, but the roadway was later reopened.
No other details have been released.
#photos from 5 a.m. East Colonial Drive auto repair shop fire. pic.twitter.com/JfTwq90uJC
— OCFire Rescue (@OCFireRescue) May 5, 2020