No one was injured in a fire early Friday morning that consumed Joe’s Auto Body, 150 Eastern Ave.
The call came in at 2:27 a.m. for a working fire in the auto body shop, a business is located in a one-story garage toward the Old County Road side of the property and rear of the building housing Mount Pleasant Memorials, said fire Deputy Chief Andrew McRobb.
Gloucester fire crews were met with heavy fire on arrival and went into defensive mode, McRobb said.
Two lines were immediately extended, master streams, and a ladder pipe put into operation, and a request was made to National Grid to shut off power to the site, according to fire Chief Eric Smith.
McRobb and Smith said the fire was called in by a Beauport Ambulance Service ambulance driving by.
“The building is set back quite a ways from the road, so it was going pretty good to get their attention,” Smith said at the scene. “They called it in and when we arrived about half the building was involved.”
The building, which totally collapsed due to the fire, and its contents were a total loss, Smith and McRobb both said.
Local and state fire investigators believe the fire was accidental, said Jake Wark, spokesman for the State Fire Marshal’s Office.
“They identified the point of origin as being near the office on the right side of the building, and while they’re looking at multiple potential factors, those factors are all accidental,” Wark said.
Engines 1, 2, 3 and 6, Ladder 1, and Car responded while the Rockport Fire Department covered the station. Beauport Ambulance also arrived on scene.
The bulk of the fire was knocked down by 3:07 a.m. A vehicle and a motorcycle in the garage were destroyed while a car outside got scorched, McRobb said.