Quick thinking by a Nicholasville man saved his body-shop business from going up in smoke Monday afternoon after a car he was working on caught fire inside the bay.
The fire happened around 2:15 p.m. at Beaty’s Body Shop, located at 140 Wilson Court. Owner Kirby Beaty said he was welding on a car when it caught fire.
“A spark went inside an inner panel and caught it on fire before I could do anything,” Beaty said. “I would have let her go if I had to, but I was able to knock it out of gear and get it outside before it (got too bad). I saw the smoke come out of the inner panels, and I couldn’t do anything to stop it.”
Nicholasville deputy fire chief Kevin Baker said as members of the fire department were approaching the scene, they heard small explosions.
“We were able to extinguish the fire very quickly using one truck,” Baker said.
Baker said he wasn’t sure what or where the explosions came from but that the investigation is on-going.
“We’re going to be doing overhaul and checking the building, but it was a really good, quick stop and quick thinking by the employees that kept it from being a much larger fire,” he said. “We heard several (explosions) as we were approaching — the police officer who was here first also confirmed that — but we don’t know what it might have been.”
Baker said the damage to building did not look to be significant.
“The car, of course, is totaled, but other than that, I don’t know,” Baker said.
Baker credited Beaty with saving his business with quick thinking.
“When a car is on fire, we want our own personal safety to be the most important, but the building was saved, and I assume that (Beaty) thought (he was) safe when (he was) doing it,” Baker said.
There were no injuries reported in the blaze.
