Response: 14 pieces of heavy fire equipment, 60 firefighters

Times: 1^st alarm – 7:42 p.m., 2^nd alarm – 7:47 p.m., 3^rd alarm – 8:06 p.m.

Under control @ 8:27 p.m.

Cause: Careless use of a cutting torch

Injuries: None

Damage: $25,000

Details: Dallas Fire-Rescue was called to Atomic Auto Parts when a passer-by noticed smoke coming from the area behind the office. The yard behind the office area housed a number of disabled cars and trucks that were used for parts and then scrapped for metal. Many of the vehicles were piled 4 and 5 high as they were readied for salvage. Firefighters arrived to find quite a number of the cars on fire and tires exploding as the fire spread. A defensive attack was used at first to knock down the large body of fire before hand lines could be taken in to put out the remaining spot fires. Workers had been using cutting torches earlier in the day to remove parts from some of the vehicles and that is believed to be the cause of the accidental fire. The damage estimate is $25,000 on the inventory. There was no damage to the building as all the vehicles were stored in an outside, open area. There were no injuries reported during this incident.

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