(Michigan City, IN) - Investigators are looking into the cause of a fire at what could be mistaken as a motor vehicle graveyard in Michigan City.

 

Firefighters responded at about 6 p.m. on Monday to the blaze on Meer Road, just north of Tryon Road on the city’s far east side, where vintage fire engines were among the countless number of vehicles on the affectedproperty

 

Michigan City Fire Department spokesperson Tia Free said a large pole barn and garage, along with the vehicles inside them, were fully engulfed in flames when firefighters arrived.

 

Vehicles closest to the burning structure were also heavily damaged from the spreading flames, which also caught numerous trees on fire in a nearby wooded area.

 

Free said there were so many vehicles on the grounds that an excavator had to be utilized in order to clear a path out of scattered automobiles for firefighters to reach the burning structures. Some of which had trees growing through them due to being parked on the property for so long.

 

Katrina Croy, 34, said her teenage daughter was at a friend’s house close to the site when she rushed over there after learning about the inferno.

 

“There was probably 30 to 40 foot flames. A massive amount of smoke plume. There’s hundreds, if not, a thousand cars back there,” she said.

 

“That’s our guess but we don’t have an official count,” Free said.

 

Free said the owner told investigators he purchased the property 25 years ago and kept adding cars to his collection. His reason for stockpiling the vehicles was not known.

 

Free said there was a mixture of antique and newer vehicles, the majority of which were moderately to heavily rusted due to age and years of exposure to the elements. Some of the automobiles had busted windows.

 

“Just a huge array of vehicles,” she said.

 

Free said there were no injuries, and firefighters were on the scene for roughly four hours.

 

The Indiana State Fire Marshal’s Office is assisting in trying to uncover the cause of the fire.