Four vehicles burn at auto body shop on Mt. Gilead Rd., Friday - The Bloomingtonian

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(Photo courtesy of the Northern Monroe Fire Territory)

Several vehicles burned Friday at an auto body shop in the 4100 block of Mt. Gilead Rd., Friday afternoon according to Northern Monroe Fire Territory Sgt. Jason Allen. Allen sent the following press release to the Bloomingtonian Friday night with more details about the fire:

“NEWS FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

NMFT units were dispatched to the 4100 block of Mt. Gilead road in Benton Township just before 2pm. The fire was reported to be at an auto body shop, with several vehicles on fire. Due to the unknown size of the building and fire conditions, additional units from Monroe Fire Protection District and Ellettsville Fire Department were requested to respond to the scene. Fire crews arrived to find four cars on fire outside next to the building. Benton Township’s water tender arrived shortly after NMFT’s Deputy Chief and began to make a rapid-fire attack on the vehicles to stop the spread of fire to the building. As additional fire units arrived firefighters worked to extinguish the remaining cars, and brush fires that had spread from the fire.

The fire was started by a nearby burn pit that was believed to be extinguished but still had enough heat to ignite leaves around it. Once the leaves caught fire it quickly spread up an embankment to the vehicles. In total four vehicles were completely destroyed, another sustained minor damage and the building received melted siding. Firefighters were on scene for a few hours making sure all hot spots were extinguished.”