SYCAMORE TWP., Ohio — A black plume of smoke could be seen for miles around Sycamore Township after a fire broke out at Cincy Custom Carts on Monday.
According to their website, Cincy Custom Carts "carries the largest inventory of new & used gas & electric golf carts in the area," though Carl Wesley, the owner of the business, said around 30% of that inventory was destroyed in the fire.
"It'll be devastating, we can't replace them for one this time of year since were getting close to spring time which is our busiest time of year," said Wesley. "Not to mention a lot of the carts that were lost in the fire were customized for potential customers."
Wesley estimated around 70 to 80 carts burned in the fire.
Jeffrey Newman, captain of Sycamore Township Fire, said the burning carts created plenty of challenges for firefighters; multiple units responded to help with the blaze.
“What created a problem with this and why we have so many units here is with it being gasoline and then with the deep cell batteries we had a lot of runoff from the hydro carbons and everything," said Newman. "We tried to knock down most of the fire with water and then with the runoff we had to switch over to foam."
A column of black smoke rising from the engulfed golf carts could be seen on traffic cameras miles away.
Newman said officials haven't yet determined what caused the fire, which remains under investigation.
