Firefighters spent several hours early Monday morning battling a massive fire at a car auction business where multiple vehicles were engulfed in flames.
“It is just a sea of orange,” said Assistant Fire Chief Jeff Fenn.
Lorain Firefighters responded to Insurance Auto Auctions Inc. (IAA) on Deer Trail Lane around 2:30 a.m. The fire spread quickly across the 11-acre lot, affecting more than 40 vehicles.
“They’re organized pretty well in rows, but they are put in there pretty tight,” said Fenn. “Once one starts, it will turn into two, then five, then twelve, and before you know it, thirty.”
Firefighters managed to extinguish the blaze by 5:20 a.m., but the cause remains under investigation.
“It was hard to get water where we needed to get it,” Fenn added. “It took a lot of manpower and just brute strength from the team.”
This isn’t the first time the Lorain Fire Department has had to respond to a similar fire at the business. According to Fenn, a nearly identical incident occurred about twelve years ago.
“It’s just the nature of that business. You have that many cars in the condition that they are—wrecked, with potentially disabled electrical systems, shorts, or anything that could cause the initial spark,” he explained.
Amherst Firefighters were called in to assist with the fire.
According to IAA’s website, the company facilitates vehicle bidding, buying, and shipping for customers in more than 170 countries.
