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Million-Dollar Motorcycle Fire

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AN AUSTIN, TEXAS, MOTORCYCLE AND ATV DEALER suffered a heavy loss Wednesday evening when a fire consumed a storage shed packed with inventory.  The fire started around 5 pm local time in the storage structure that contained about 100 brand-new motorcycles that were still in their shipping crates, along with several other motorsports vehicles such as ATV’s at the Woods Fun Center.

austin b ch8 Godwin

News 8 / Godwin photo

The Austin Fire Department quickly contained the fire which was threatening a pair of above-ground fuel tanks, but not without a challenge.  The motorcycles contain a fair number of parts made from magnesium and that complication slowed down the attack, but they had the fire out within an hour.

Austin American-Statesman

The smoke from the blaze could be seen throughout the city and caused a temporary shut-down of I-35 which is adjacent to the dealership.

The loss is expected to exceed $1 million and will affect the sales staff who were preparing to sell the vehicles during the upcoming season.  “I just know that it’s a real unfortunate situation because of an already tough economy.  That’s our inventory back there that has burnt to the ground,”  Woods business manager told a television news crew.

KVUE-TV filed this video report on the fire:

The cause of the fire is not yet determined.

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