An autobody shop in Wayland, Massachusetts, is a shell of what it once was, after a fire ripped through the Main Street business on Tuesday.
The shop was still smoldering Wednesday morning, with smoke rising from rubble of the business. It was a much more intense firefight Tuesday afternoon – when multiple explosions could be heard coming from inside International Autobody as it burned.
That’s part of the reason why the fire chief said he made the decision to make a defense attack.
Incredibly, the firewalls on either side of the shop largely protected the businesses on either side. But, neighbors described incredible flames and thick, black smoke – that prompted them to call 911.
There were four employees and a dog inside International Autobody when they started realizing something was wrong and got out.
“I smelled something strange, which not unusual but I went to check and the furnace that heats up the paint booth for baking the paint jobs – the furnace, I saw smoke coming out of it," International Autobody manager Mark Ceurvels said.
One firefighter was taken to the hospital with a leg injury after tripping on a hose.
“There was heavy fire, we had explosions, there were multiple explosions for the first 15 minutes or so," Chief Chief Neil McPherson of the Wayland Fire Department said. "We did have a building collapse at approximately 45 minutes, everybody was outside the collapse zone so nobody was injured.”
The cause and origin of the fire remain under investigation.
