MANISTIQUE — At 4:02 a.m. Friday, Manistique Public Safety and Volunteer Firefighters were called to a report of a structure fire at Bill’s Automotive, 507 Chippewa Ave. in Manistique. Upon arriving at the scene, officers found the building was fully involved in a fire and waste oil containers had also ignited.

A large amount of burning oil driven by high southwest winds was spread northwesterly across the parking lot towards trader’s Point Drive and the nearest fire hydrant, which was now inaccessible to firefighters.

This spreading fire also engulfed and destroyed five vehicles, including the business wrecker truck.

There were five other vehicles also destroyed in the fire, two of which were in the building being worked on and another three that were parked alongside the building for a total of ten vehicles destroyed.

It is estimated that approximately 2,000 gallons of waste oil was burned or lost in the fire.

This long-standing business and contents thereof were completely destroyed by the fire and are deemed a total loss. The owner of the business is Greg Reed of Manistique who took over the establishment from his father, William “Bill” Reed, also of Manistique.

There were no injures to firefighters or civilians in the fire. Manistique Public Safety was assisted at the scene by the Hiawatha Township Volunteer Fire Department. The Manistique Department of Public Works was summoned to contain the remaining oil, which became contained along the south border of Trader’s Point Drive. The Michigan department of Environmental Quality has been contacted to monitor additional clean up efforts.

The cause and origin of the fire remains under investigation at this time.