THORNTON, Colo. — Row after row of scorched steel — just a fraction of what was lost at Rol Race Motorsports in Thornton after a 10-acre fire broke out near W. 84th Avenue and Huron Street on Wednesday morning.
With the smell of melted car parts still lingering in the air, Owner Jason Rol inspected the blackened, gutted frames of 148 cars on the lot of his performance BMW restoration shop Thursday morning, less than 24 hours after the fire broke out near Pinnacle High School.
The fire, which started around 11:30 a.m., was aided by strong winds amid red flag conditions and grew to approximately 10 acres in size before it was contained.
“It spread from the top of the hill that we can see through our fence, in probably less than 30 seconds,” Rol recalled. “It just felt like so much adrenaline.”
▶Watch: Denver7's Adria Iraheta in Thornton
His first instinct, he told Denver7, was to grab a hose and start spraying vehicles — many belonging to clients.
“I have so many friends’ and customers’ vehicles over here that that are just irreplaceable, and I wanted to save them and do whatever I could,” he said. “I was just spraying what I could, thinking that I could stop this.”
It wasn’t long before the shop he worked so hard to build four years ago became engulfed in thick, black smoke.
“My brother came over and shook me and said, ‘We have to go,’” Rol said.
This video is sights and sounds of Wednesday's grass fire involving North Area fire departments. If it not for the true teamwork of every single agency, this could've been much worse. The stand these firefighters made to save homes/property was what we train for! pic.twitter.com/Je4c4GTCiF
— Adams County Fire (@adamscountyfire) February 26, 2026
Approximately 100–150 firefighters from 47 different agencies worked to battle the blaze for hours.
Rol estimated about $2 million dollars in property damage as he got a better look at the aftermath Thursday morning. The shop itself is a little worse for wear — but still standing.
He’s now tasked with figuring out what insurance will cover as he breaks the news to his customers.
“It's really hard to come up with the words to say to people. I just start with, ‘Have you seen the news?’” Rol said. “That's all I can say. I had no control here.”
Rol launched a GoFundMe to help his customers recoup some of those losses.
“I just hope that we can kind of come together as a community and repair from all this,” he said. “It's going to be hard.”
Thornton Fire crews remained on scene Thursday to make sure no hot spots rekindled the fire.
The cause of the fire remains under investigation.
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