A Cockeysville automobile dealership was heavily damaged yesterday when a two-alarm fire broke out in the shop area.
The fire at Valley Motors in the 9800 block of York Road forced police to close a stretch of heavily traveled York Road for several hours.
Capt. James Korn, a spokesman for the Baltimore County Fire Department, said the fire broke out about 11:15 a.m. when a car in the shop's bay area caught fire. The fire spread quickly to the rest of the two-story building.
It took firefighters more than five hours to bring the two-alarm blaze under control, he said.
Korn said firefighters struggled to put out the fire because the roof of the two-story structure became unstable and almost collapsed.
Three firefighters were injured fighting the blaze, including one who was hospitalized with minor injuries, Korn said.
The fire was confined to the shop, where it destroyed at least six vehicles, but did not spread to the adjoining showroom, Korn said. The dealership sells Porsche, Mercedes-Benz, Audi, Volkswagen and Subaru vehicles.
Investigators are trying to determine the cause of the fire and calculate the damage, Korn said.
York Road was closed until about 3 p.m.
