Courtenay firefighters battled a blaze that broke out shortly before 4 p.m. Tuesday at Excel Automotive S&R Repairs on Cousins Avenue in Tin Town.
“Upon arrival, the back end of the shop was fully involved,” deputy fire chief Kurt MacDonald said.
Crews extinguished the fire in about 2 1/2 hours. There were no injuries.
“Everybody was out on arrival,” MacDonald said. “We were very happy with that.”
The fire — which is under investigation — likely started as a “process of repairing a vehicle,” he added.
Firefighters returned in the evening to deal with a pile of debris underneath a vehicle inside the garage.
MacDonald credits the Cousins Road community for setting up a perimeter before police arrived.
“They were very, very helpful. Can’t say enough about them,” he said, crediting the ambulance service, RCMP and BC Hydro as well.
“Hydro disconnected the power within half an hour of the incident. The RCMP set up an excellent perimeter. All the agencies that responded were super helpful.”