Thick black smoke and explosions accompanied this Wednesday blaze at an east London auto repair shop. (Photo by: Scott Taylor/Metro)
By 6 p.m., the evacuation order had been lifted everywhere but Childers Street.
Children who take the bus home from nearby Prince Charles school were kept in the building, and parents were asked to pick them up after London police ordered that buses not leave the school.
London fire spokesman Rick Jefferson said the blaze, which caused $500,000 in damage, started as mechanics were working on a vehicle inside the garage off Brydges Street.
“They were working on a fuel pump and some fuel leaked onto the hot engine of the vehicle, which started the fire,” Jefferson said.
A witness said he’d never seen anything like it.
“I didn’t really know what time it was, but I (saw) the smoke and I came out here to see what was happening,” said Joe Bowman, an employee at Don’s Garage across the street. “I was standing here and the flames were coming out and then I heard the gas tanks going off like a distant bang . . . bang. It was weird.”
Jefferson said it was an intense blaze that saw firefighters take a defensive posture in an attempt to keep it from spreading to nearby trailers and buildings. The damage estimate is pegged at $500,000.
At least as dangerous as the flames, Jefferson continued, was what they were burning.
“There’s a number of vehicles and obviously a lot of toxic chemicals and rubber and all of that stuff,” he said at the scene.
No injuries have been reported.
By Scott Taylor
via Metro
