Electric vehicle ‘may have started’ Bristol car dealership fire

A police officer called to a fire at a car dealership says it could have been started by an electric vehicle.

Lee Alford, station manager at Avon Fire and Rescue Service, said crews had “reason to believe” it was started by an electric vehicle, but added that investigations were ongoing and no conclusions had yet been reached.

A major road was closed in north Bristol when the fire started at Drive Vauxhall Bristol North premises off Gloucester Road in Patchway at approximately 10am BST.

Mr Alford said at least 25 cars were involved and firefighters believed the fire was “accidental”. The agency confirmed that no one was injured.

Crews from Patchway, Southmead, Temple and Thornbury attended the scene and thick black smoke was seen rising from the scene.

An eyewitness, who was working nearby, told the BBC he saw “huge plumes of thick black smoke rising for about 20 minutes” and when he approached the scene he saw “two or three” cars on fire.

Mr Alford said by the time fire crews arrived, the first car was “completely engulfed” and the heat quickly spread to surrounding cars.

“The plume of smoke was considerable and it looks quite dramatic given the amount of cars involved in the fire,” he said.

“We have fire investigations ongoing at this time.

“Due to the capacity of the way the cars are parked and the location where they are, once a fire is fully engulfed in a car, then the radiated heat tends to circulate quite quickly.

“From here, the total involvement, we believe over 25 cars were involved in total.”

He added: “We have reason to believe it may have been an electrical car that started the fire at this time, but the fire investigation is ongoing.”

Mr Alford said firefighters would re-inspect the cars over the next few days.

He said Drive Motor Group was helping to investigate the fire at the dealership site located near the Rolls Royce base and the Royal Mail post office.

Avon Fire and Rescue Service said: “Ten of our firefighters wore breathing apparatus for safety.”

It said the service was still at the scene “to check for any remaining hotspots and to ensure the safety of the scene”.