Crews Contain Fire At Auto Shop In South OKC

Crews have contained a fire at a south Oklahoma City auto shop that started as a car fire Tuesday morning.

According to fire department, at about 11 a.m. a car caught fire inside the garage at C&I Automotive, located at 9600 S. Shields in Oklahoma City. The structure then caught fire as well.

The northbound lanes of Shields were shut down as crews worked to contain the fire. Everyone made it out of the building safely and no one was injured. 

Investigators later determined that workers were trying to pinpoint the location of a fuel leak on a vehicle when it caught on fire inside the building.  The fire quickly spread to other vehicles inside the business and to the building itself. 

Being that this was an automotive repair facility with many unknown materials and due to early reports of numerous acetylene cylinders inside the business, the hazardous materials unit (Haz-Mat 5) of the fire department was dispatched early on.  Firefighters contained the fire before the acetylene bottles became a factor, but the fire was more than likely fueled by gasoline and motor oil in the early phases of the fire, officials said.