Merced Fire investigators looking into early morning repair shop fire

MERCED, Calif. (KFSN) -- Firefighters are investigating what caused a car to go up in flames inside of a Merced repair shop.

The fire broke out around 9:30am Tuesday at Sierra Muffler and Radiators located on Yosemite Parkway and Parsons Avenue.

The shop was temporarily locked up at the time.

It only took firefighters about 10 minutes to get the blaze under control, but it caused an estimated $70,000 in damage to the business and about $20,000 in damage to the vehicles that were inside the garage area.

The fire department was conducting training exercises with its probationary firefighters when they spotted the smoke nearby.

"The probationary firefighters that are in training, they remained in the training site," said Captain Mark Walker of the Merced City Fire Department. "Then we've been able to bring them over to assist with overhaul and mop up operations."

Firefighters searched the building, but no one was inside when they arrived.