Overview
- Early Thursday morning fire crews raced to the IAA salvage lot on Baldwinville Road after a call just before 2 a.m. and found flames spreading through dozens of vehicles with no reported injuries.
- Templeton and multiple neighboring departments fought the blaze that the fire chief and on-scene captains said grew from about a dozen burning cars to roughly 50–60 vehicles involved before it was brought under control.
- Officials reported explosions from tires and airbags as cars burned, the scene was largely under control by about 5 a.m., and crews cleared the area by roughly 7 a.m.
- The cause remains unknown and Massachusetts District 8 fire investigators are expected to probe the origin while IAA declined to comment and a scheduled morning auction was disrupted.
- Because salvage yards store gasoline, batteries and other hazardous materials, authorities have closed the site for cleanup and investigators warn the blaze could create runoff and cleanup costs that affect local operations and insurers.