Firefighters from Port Jervis, and at least five other fire departments from around the region, rushed to the scene at Auto Dreams Car Dealership on Kingston Avenue in Port Jervis.

They hosed down large segments of the building, however, hours after firefighters had largely contained the fire, a small flame was still burning on the roof. Residents described what the fire was like. 

"When I first got here, the roof had actually still not collapsed. By that time, it was just mostly in the back of the building and it just moved so quickly through the front of the building," said Kenneth Kern. 

"It was small and then when it got towards the back it got really big and things were exploding," said Paige Bonker.  

City of Port Jervis firefighters responded to the scene within minutes of the call.

"It really got consumed in fire within the first few minutes of our arrival. [It] probably took us about 45 minutes to get it extinguished, to the point where we could go in and do the overhaul," said City of Port Jervis Fire Department Deputy Chief Jim Roehner.

Firefighters had to battle several explosions inside. 

"We had a number of we'll say explosions," Roehner said. "We had an oil tank inside the building, they had an air compressor, both of which did rupture and explode and there were a couple of vehicles inside the shop being worked on." 

While employees were inside the dealership at the time the fire started, none were injured in the fire. One house was evacuated due to the smoke conditions in the area. Additionally, gas and electricity to nearby homes was cut off to prevent any additional fires. 

The building has been a mainstay in the community. Spectrum News spoke to two sisters whose father built the building more than 30 years ago.

"It's been a local car dealership [and] used to be the biggest, oldest one in Port Jervis until he passed away, so it was a 60 year old business," said Susan Martin. 

Firefighters are still investigating the cause of the fire.