PENTICTON — The manager of an auto body business in Penticton is feeling thankful his shop didn’t burn to the ground. Monday evening, a fire started inside one of the vehicles located at Neighbourhood Auto Body. Luckily an employee was working late when it happened. Once he smelled smoke and spotted flames, he called 911 and escaped unharmed.
Firefighters responded quickly with a crew of more than 20 people.
“It happened during a shift change, where we basically had the night shift and day shift together, so we had quite a good crew on it. We were able to get inside and knock it down pretty quickly,” says fire inspector Mike Richards.
There were two tanks nearby the burning vehicle, one filled with acetylene and another with oxygen.
Richards says the tanks wouldn’t have caused an explosion, but without a doubt, they definitely would’ve exasperated the situation.
“We are very fortunate for things to have gone they did. We’re still operating,” says Ash. “Everybody is still working, so definitely best case scenario.”
All six employees were able to return to work Tuesday, thanks to their quick-thinking coworker who was there at the right place, right time.
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