Fire for the second time in four years destroys rural Clear Lake auto salvage company

CLEAR LAKE — For the second time in four years, fire has destroyed  a rural Clear Lake auto salvage company.

The Clear Lake Fire Department was dispatched shortly before 1:30 Monday afternoon to B-20 Auto Salvage at 7600 300th Street, where on arrival they found heavy smoke and fire coming out of the shop area. The building and contents were deemed a total loss.

Fire Chief Doug Meyers says the cause of the fire was determined to be from drilling through a gasoline tank off an auto being salvaged, igniting residual gas in the tank. Back in November 2016, B-20 Auto was victim to another fire when a vehicle on fire inside a building caused major damage.

No injuries were reported in Monday’s fire, but the Gene Baker family did lose a pet bird according to Meyers.