WDBJ7 Roanoke News and Weather NRV Lynchburg Danville | Owner loses shop, customers lose cars in Appomattox County fire

Owner loses shop, customers lose cars in Appomattox County fire

Bad weather is to blame for a fire that destroyed a local auto repair business.

Strong storms moved through Appomattox around 8:15 Wednesday night.  That's when lightning hit the back of Appomattox Auto Works.  The building burned quickly, and Thursday the owner says it's a total loss.

Sixteen cars were inside the building.  Roxie Joseph's vehicle is somewhere in the rubble.

"I backed up into some mail boxes, so I brought it up here to get it fixed," explains Joseph.

She was supposed to pick her Dodge Stratus up Thursday.

"They had fixed it [Wednesday] and then the fire happened," says Joseph.  In other words, she could have had it out of the building in time.

Joshua Scott says his buddy's Chevy Camaro ended up at the shop after his brother wrecked it.

"I was expecting to see a little bit more of the car than that, but it's just a frame and wheels and everything burned off," explains Scott.

Everett Shober says it was lightning that destroyed his business.  News 7 photographer Andrea Craig captured bolts coming down as firefighters put out the flames.

"Neighbors and people driving by saw lightning strike the roof," says Appomattox Auto Works owner Everett Shober.  "It put a hole in it, then it started smoking and burned."
 
In addition to losing his business, Shober also lost a bit of his own handiwork.  He built the building himself ten years ago.
 
"It took three months to do it.  My wife and I built the original part and we did the addition about two years later.  We built it to stay," says Shober.

He still plans to do so, as soon as he can rebuild.  Insurance money will help since lightning was to blame.

"The insurance agent jokingly said it never happens twice, so they're going to keep us on their policy," says Shober.

Most of the car owners are covered, too.

"I guess I will just get a new car and go from there," says Joseph.

Despite heavy rain Wednesday night, crews had to bring in pumper trucks from as far away as Campbell County to put out the fire.

June 9, 2009

Investigators will begin searching Wednesday for the cause of a fire at Appomattox Auto Works, a collision repair shop near Evergreen.

Early indications are that weather played a factor.  Lightening strikes were seen nearby as firefighters worked to knock down the flames.

No one was inside the building when it caught fire.  Crews from as far away as Concord in Campbell County were called in.

The building is a total loss.