DINWIDDIE COUNTY, Va. — A fire destroyed a Dinwiddie County mechanic's shop Wednesday afternoon, sending smoke visible for miles and leaving the owner's family and friends heartbroken.
The blaze broke out around 4:30 p.m. at Major League Auto on Boydton Plank Road as a fuel pump was being installed in a car's gas tank. The fire spread quickly through the old service station and through the roof. Dinwiddie County Fire and EMS, along with Petersburg Fire, responded. It took about an hour and a half for firefighters to bring the fire under control.
Watch: Fire destroys Dinwiddie auto shop: 'His whole world changed'
"It was tough to see somebody's whole world go up, and you don't know what to do to help," a witness said.
Rock Bates, a longtime family friend of owner Rodney Jones Jr., described the moment he realized the fire could not be stopped.
"Heartbreaking for me. Heartbreaking for his family, his kids," Bates said. "So naturally, you try to put it out but when you realize that you can not get that fire out, what do you do? You just stand out here and just be looking. I can't even imagine."
Jessica White, a longtime customer, was at the shop to have her truck inspected when the fire broke out.
"Things were popping and booming and blowing, as I'm watching him and the kids trying to figure out, what can we move?" White said.
Jones Jr.'s father, Rodney Jones Sr., said he knew it was bad as he drove toward the shop.
"When I was coming down the road I saw just a big gulp of, not smoke, fire," Jones Sr. said.
Jones Sr. said he was relieved when he arrived and spotted his son.
"I was most thankful on my mind, he was okay, because the fire was very intense," Jones Sr. said.
Jones Sr. said his son had operated the shop for six years. While the business carries insurance, he said some losses cannot be replaced.
"A lot of personal things that money can't replace," Jones Sr. said.
White said she hopes the community will rally around the family.
"It would be nice for the community to show him the same kindness he shows everybody else and realize that it's not just a building or a mechanics shop. He's built it, blood, sweat and tears," White said.
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