BROCKTON, MASS. (WHDH) - BROCKTON (WHDH) – A car backfired Thursday night, sparking a massive fire that destroyed a building.
The fire started at the building on Montello Street. Officials said the building used to be a furniture factory that also sold antique furniture.
It was a devastating and emotional loss for 75-year-old Fred Montgomery.
“I don’t know what it is, but I lost everything yesterday,” he said.
Montgomery has owned the building for 42 years. All of his belongings were stored in a trailer out back.
He barely made it out.
“Maybe it’s my wife, up in heaven, looking down,” he said.
Montgomery was working on a 1978 Chevy Blazer with his friend when the fire happened.
“They were pouring gasoline on a carburetor and turning it over when it backfired, caught fire, the container they had got spilled with gasoline in it, and it just went up,” fire officials said.
The two men tried to fight the fire themselves and then Montgomery says he friend said they had to get out and call 911.
The intense heat of the fire melted nearby homes, but didn’t spread.
Demolition crews will knock the building down.
“I still will survive, I will get back up again somehow,” Montgomery said.
No one was hurt in the fire.
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