Jason Rol will have to make dozens of calls to clients who had their dream vehicles parked on his lot waiting to be restored.
THORNTON, Colo. — After the smoke and chaos of Wednesday’s wildfire in Thornton cleared, Jason Rol walked among dozens of burned-up vehicles and tried to make sense of the amount of loss on his car lot.
On Wednesday afternoon, a grass fire erupted near 84th and Huron and quickly spread east, hitting the car lot for Rol Race Motorsports, a car restoration company on 84th Avenue.
“It’s been really hard to come here this morning and kind of put eyes on it with a clear head, because last night was crazy. It was really hard to process,” Rol said.
Rol counted 148 destroyed vehicles on his lot. Some of the cars were used for parts, but many were dream cars being restored to their former glory days, he said.
“I haven’t even gone through and figured out who exactly I have to notify yet. A lot of the cars, as you can tell, are hard to recognize now,” Rol said.
Many of the vehicles were older model BMWs and other vintage cars.
Rol said he and his brother tried to stop the flames from entering their car lot with a water hose, but things quickly got too intense.
“My brother is turning the faucet on while I’m spraying what I thought I could possibly quell down,” Rol said. “But I was getting blasted with smoke and debris, and it was very hard to breathe.”
That’s when Rol’s brother said it was time to leave.
“And he said, ‘Dude, we have to go now!’ and then we just ran away,” Rol said.
Rol started an online fundraiser, which he hopes will help make things right with customers.
On Thursday, a spokesperson for the Thornton Fire Department said firefighters returned to the burned area to make sure hotspots didn’t flare up.
Investigators believe the fire started near Pinnacle High School, but the cause remains under investigation.
