Fire destroyed an auto body business in East Hartford early this morning and caused a roof collapse.
Two people were in the shop at 9 Spencer Court and working on a car when it caught fire around 1 a.m., officials said. The flames extended to another car and then to the garage itself.
The employees were able to get on their own and were not hurt, but firefighters had to evacuate a residential building because of the flammable materials inside the business.
“Whenever you have places where you’re working on vehicles, you have tools, you have a lot of stuff there, so that makes it more challenging. The fire was pretty big. There (were) gas tanks, propane tanks and so on.” Assistant Fire Chief William Perez said. “Then, having two vehicles catch on fire, both of them have gas tanks that made it a little bit more difficult. The roof has collapsed. If you look at the right side of the structure, the roof gave way, which can become a difficult thing for firefighters.”
Crews were able to save about six cars in the parking lot, but the building has been deemed a total loss.
The state fire marshal is at the scene and investigating the cause.
