Fire leaves Wolverhampton car business severely damaged as owners count up losses

The fire on Jaddo Street in Wolverhampton happened in the early hours of Tuesday morning and has left charred and destroyed cars and the smell of burning metal all around car detailing and repair service Bright Crown Detailing.

The warehouse which housed the company was left blackened and burnt out by the fire, which saw 18 West Midlands Fire Service fire engines called to the scene to tackle the blaze at around 4am, and a large number of cars could be seen damaged and burnt out after the fire had been put out.

One of the directors of the business, who asked not to be named, said he had lost everything and was working out his next steps, due to the building not being insured.

He said: "I had sold the business to another individual, but kept running the business as a director and now the building has burned down and there's no insurance on the property or assets, so I'm working out what to do next.

"I'm gutted as I've lost everything that I had and the thing is that I wasn't on the site, but my brother had been there an hour earlier, then went out and then the fire randomly started in the front yard where there were a lot of cars, so one started up, then another, then the whole lot went up."

Firefighters could still be seen at the scene hours after the fire, checking the unit and the neighbouring property HMS Building Services, which was also severely damaged by the fire, for hot spots.

The owner of HMS Building Services Baljit Singh was checking out the damage to his unit, which had burnt out shelves, fire and smoke damage on the roof and two vans left blackened and charred by the fire.

He said he had found out early that morning about the fire and said he had suffered a lot of loss.

He said: "I think we've lost a lot in this fire as the unit is very damaged from the fire.

"There is a lot of smoke damage and our wall has been burnt out by the fire, so we are working to see what we can salvage."

A spokesman for West Midlands Fire Service said: "Just before 2am in the early hours of Tuesday 30 July, we were called to a fire in Jeddo Street, Blakenhall, Wolverhampton.

"The first of our crews arrived within three minutes of being mobilised.

"This was a fire involving a car detailing business, in one of four units in a single-storey building. A number of cars were inside.

"Several main water jets were used to extinguish the fire, and we started to reduce our resources at the scene at around 5.30am. As of 9am, two crews remained.

"Investigations continue into how the fire started."