CAMANO ISLAND – All the water that assaulted Gary Lane’s beachfront property on east Camano Island in Saturday’s storm was not enough to extinguish a bigger disaster that also hit him.
Lane’s garage near Cavalero Beach burned in a scorching fire that destroyed eight vintage cars worth about $150,000.
“The heat in that garage was just horrible,” Lane said, looking at the charred, twisted metal heaps on Monday.
Michael O’Leary / The Herald
The 69-year-old man said firefighters told him six of the cars’ gas tanks exploded. He had not been told what caused the fire.
A neighbor noticed smoke coming from the garage at 10:25 a.m. as she cleared driftwood from her parents’ home across the street in the 1300 block of Beach Drive. Lane said he was in California at the time.
Flames shot from the roof minutes later, Camano Island assistant fire chief Jeff Hofstad said.
Firefighters couldn’t save the garage or the vehicles, but they kept the blaze from spreading to a nearby home and another garage. The fire was out by 11:30 a.m., Hofstad said. The Stanwood Fire Department and Snohomish County Fire District 14 also responded.
Lane said he did not think Saturday’s storm caused the fire, even though water flowed around the garage at one point that morning, neighbors said. He speculated that heat tape he had wrapped around some water pipes might have sparked it.
Lost in the blaze were some special rides: a ‘69 Buick Gran Sport 400 convertible, a ‘74 Cadillac El Dorado convertible, a ‘27 Ford Model T, a ‘66 Ford Mustang convertible and four other cars.
Losing the Buick hurt.
“It had only been driven one mile, so I never got to enjoy it,” Lane said.
Reporter Scott Morris: 425-339-3292 or smorris@ heraldnet.com.
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