Police are investigating a fire which ripped through Library Road Garage in Poole during the early hours of Sunday morning.
Speaking to local media, Garage owner Danny Parker said: “I got a call from the alarm company just gone 1am this morning, fortunately I was still awake.
“I only live a couple of minutes away as well, so I was here quickly.
“By the time I got here flames were 20 or 30ft high, the car at the side was alight, the tyres were alight – the whole lot was up in flames.”
“The whole lot was up in flames”
The fire is reported to have been started near a stack of used tyres outside the workshop but the flames quickly spread a parked car and engulfed the garage building itself.
Around 50 tyres and three vehicles were destroyed.
A Dorset and Wiltshire Fire and Rescue Service spokesman said: “The cause of the fire is believed to be deliberate.”
Danny added: “The fire service was here a couple of minutes after me, but it was too late, it had all gone up.
“You have to have a flammable source for a tyre to go up, in my mind it is definitely arson.
“The building is made with lime mortar and you can see where it has bowed, so the heat has expanded the building.
“The roof is asbestos so the whole building will have to be pulled down and rebuilt – it is going to be a total loss.
“Everything has gone.”
Danny hopes CCTV footage – installed at the garage after a burglary last year – will help identify whoever is responsible for the attack.
Library road garage, just off Ashley road on fire around 1am @Bournemouthecho pic.twitter.com/SxsYSyFyNC
— Macaulay Playford (@Macaulay_21) August 19, 2018