Hanover County fire officials are looking for the cause of a fire that destroyed a garage at a Mechanicsville construction company yesterday.

The garage, used to service vehicles and heavy equipment for Bost Construction Co. Inc., erupted in flames and explosions about 9:40 a.m. The last construction crews had left for job sites, so the metal building was empty and no one was injured.

More than two dozen firefighters responded to the two-alarm fire with eight pieces of equipment. They were not able to enter the burning building because of the intensity of the fire, which caused propane tanks and aerosol canisters inside to explode, Hanover Battalion Chief William E. Jones said.

Initially, black smoke billowed from the building, indicating petroleum products on fire, and the smoke plume could be seen miles away in downtown Richmond.

The building stood in a maintenance yard at 8141 Elm Drive, in an industrial area just off Mechanicsville Turnpike near the iconic windmill that overlooks the highway. Firefighters used aerial trucks and high-pressure hoses to bring the fire under control in about 20 minutes, while at the same time controlling potentially hazardous runoff into a creek behind the property that leads to the nearby Chickahominy River.

Officials at Bost declined to comment yesterday.
Contact Michael Martz at (804) 649-6964 or mmartz@timesdispatch.com.