AUBURN – Firefighters battled the Auburn Auto fire on Central Avenue for over six hours Saturday night and woke Sunday to smoldering embers and a dozen cars burned or crushed.

The fire is suspected to have started in the eastern side of the building, but firefighters stopped its westward spread before it could reach the American Dream Real Estate building at 820 Central.

Roger Henderson of Auburn is among those expressing his gratitude for firefighters and Auburn Auto employees. His car was saved from inside of the building.

Henderson: “It’s a 1969 Olds Cutlass convertible. I had it for about 45 years. I bought it from a friend in high school. I used the car when we first got married. We eloped and drove it to Las Vegas, so it’s got some sentimental value to me.”

The restoration project  was at Auburn Auto for brakes and exhaust work before it went into for painting.

 

Henderson: “I told him there’s no hurry on it, you know, it’s cold weather, I don’t need it right now, work it in when you get a chance, so it’s been sitting here. Fortunately Mike (Wiles) and his crew were able to get it out. They pushed it out and it got this far.”

Several cars were burned inside of the buildings and others damaged by fire, heat and falling bricks on the lot outside.

The auto repair building was established in 1920 and has been a Ford dealership, Tincher Auto Sales and most recently Better Way Auto.