Clovis Body and Paint erupts in flames on Wednesday

Three cars and a boat were consumed by flames at Clovis Body and Paint when painting materials at the shop caught fire Wednesday evening, causing smoke to be seen for miles outside Clovis.

More than 27 firefighters from Fresno County, Fresno City and the Clovis Fire Department worked to contain the fire to the painting workspace behind the auto body shop at 735 Barstow Ave., said Clovis deputy fire Chief John Binaski.

When firefighters arrived around 6:50 p.m., flames had already eaten through the roof where the paint booth and painting occurs, Binaski said. Luckily the paint booth was separated from the rest of the building, so firefighters were able to keep the flames contained to the north side of the auto shop.

“The back building was completely destroyed,” Binaski said, “along with a couple cars and a boat.”

No one was inside the building when the fire erupted. Fire crews fought the flames from three different angles to keep the fire from spreading to neighboring businesses.

Binaski said that the high concentration of flammable materials caused extensive smoke.

“We went into defensive mode right away when we got here,” Binaski said. “Just because of the products that were in there, because it is an auto body repair shop, you get a lot of flammable material, that’s what caused the fire and that’s what brought the smoke up.”

Binaski said that the auto shop will survive the fire, even though a large amount of paint and inventory burned up.

The cause of the fire and the damage estimate were not immediately available.

This story was originally published May 11, 2016 at 9:23 PM with the headline "Clovis Body and Paint erupts in flames on Wednesday."