A spark from a 20-gallon metal gas tank is believed to have ignited a fire Tuesday that gutted a county auto repair shop. 

Glynn County police received a 911 call around 2:45 p.m. reporting the fire at Tommy Crosby’s Auto Repair at 1105 Cedar St.

A ladder truck and two engines responded to the scene and put out the blaze in about 10 minutes.

The shop, a three-car garage constructed of cinderblock and wood, was a complete loss, said Al Thomas, chief of the Glynn County Fire Department.

“The fire was rolling out when we got here,” said Thomas, who was on the scene. “You couldn’t see across the road because of the smoke.”

He said other items inside the shop, including engine parts and tools, were also ruined in the fire.

Carl Meyers, 24, a part-time employee at the business, was in the building when the fire started.

He said he was trying to empty a gas tank when it fell backward and hit the concrete floor, causing a spark that ignited the fuel.

“Thankfully I was the only one in there,” he said, standing outside the smoke-filled building and brushing soot from his arms.

He was not injured.

“If there had been anybody else, they wouldn’t have made it out,” he said.

Meyers said a Crown Victoria and a Mitsubishi Eclipse were the only two cars inside the shop.

Other cars parked in a grassy parking lot beside the structure were unscathed by the flames.

Cindy Erdman, 23, stood behind firefighters as they walked in and out of the building with oxygen tanks and hoses. She was coming to check on her car, which had been at the shop for an engine overhaul.

Her black Subaru Outback was OK.

“When I came around the corner, I was like, ‘No way!’” she said, wide-eyed.

Firefighters did not know the monetary value of the damage Tuesday and said the cause of the fire remained under investigation.