Such was the intensity of the blaze and the proximity of the vehicles that the Fire and Rescue Service had a difficult time fighting the fire as it continued to spread among the closely-parked vehicles.
Fortunately, the wind was blowing away from the garage premises, which were not affected and nobody was evacuated.
The fire service was called to the scene shortly after 2.30pm when they were told that one car was alight.
But, said station officer Dave Hockey, en route this was escalated to three.
Staff at neighbouring Channel Island Ceramics watched the burning cars from their building’s rear window: ‘I heard the first bang at about 20 to three,’ said store manager Steve Falla.
‘In 10 years working here I’ve never heard a sound like that come from next door.
‘There were only one or two cars on fire when the first fire engine turned up, then it was four when the second one arrived and they went straight into the middle of the fire with the hose and started putting it out.
‘There seemed to be a bit of a problem with the water supply.’
Two water tenders and a crew of nine attended initially but after arriving on the scene the service stepped up the response by calling in a water tanker as well, said Mr Hockey.
A lot of water was required and a fire hose was run to the nearest hydrant connection, some way along the main road.
Loud pops could heard as the blaze spread to more cars: ‘The intensity of the fire required that we used fire-fighting foam,’ said Mr Hockey.
The service had liaised with Guernsey Water over the use of the foam: ‘We’re working with them to limit any effects of the foam, which was contained to the garage property,’ he said.
An investigation into what caused the first car to ignite will be carried out.
Nobody from Forest Road Garage was available to comment.
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