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Cars go up in flames in Edgewater impound; Car owners may have to cover own repairs

EDGEWATER, Fla. — An already bad situation got worse for several drivers after their cars went up in flames in a Volusia County impound yard.

Some 15 cars were either damaged or destroyed early Tuesday morning at the lot on South Ridgewood Avenue in Edgewater.

Now car owners could be on the hook for their own repairs.

Firefighters were called to Edgewater Towing and Recovery on South Ridgewood Avenue shortly before 1 a.m. after some reported seeing smoke, flames and hearing "explosion sounds."

A surveillance camera over the impound lot captured flames engulfing one car at a time and lighting up the night sky.

Officials say the fire started inside a Chevy HHR parked in the lot, which caught 14 other cars, trucks, and SUVs on fire, destroying eight and damaging the rest.

It even melted the tail light of an expensive wrecker, but it didn't catch on fire.

"(It) could've been a lot worse. It got the back of the wrecker,” said owner Myron Hammond. “If it'd gotten on into the wreckers, it would have been serious.”

It took the Edgewater Fire Department just five minutes to get to the lot, but the owners say the cars burned for a while before anyone noticed.

“It probably smoldered for about 40 minutes or so, then it just exploded and when it exploded it just went up," said owner Myron Hammond.

When crews arrived, they went around back and saw multiple vehicles had been set on fire, shooting flames 30 feet high.

In the video, a stream of water is seen shooting over the fence onto the fire. The fire was brought under control and extinguished in about 30 minutes.

The city's fire marshal has determined that the cause of the fire was an electrical issue with one of the cars.

The company says their car insurance would cover their losses if the company is not at fault.

The cost of damage is estimated to be between $65,000 and $75,000.