Car Body Shop Fire in Southwest LR Shuts down Mabelvale Pike

Ten units with the Little Rock Fire Department were called to the scene of a blaze at a car body shop on the city's southwest side Monday morning.

It broke out along Mabelvale Pike around 10 o'clock. The road was shutdown for a while as crews battled the blaze.

Several employees were inside the business but got out safely.

Fire officials tell KARK 4 that the blaze consumed the building and several cars inside. Fire crews also worked to contain the runoff from the fire from getting into a nearby creek.

Inside the building were a lot of chemicals including several large drums of highly flammable paint thinner and barrels of oil.

A KARK 4 crew headed to the scene spotted thick black smoke rising from the area as they drove along Asher Avenue (see photo).

Fire officials say the blaze started in a small office inside an apartment on the south side of the body shop. There was no one inside the apartment.

Workers said they scrambled out of the building as soon as they noticed the smoke.