A fire damaged or destroyed 20 luxury vehicles at a Herb Chambers Jaguar/Land Rover/Range Rover dealership on Route 20 in Sudbury, Massachusetts, early Monday morning.
State Fire Marshal Stephen Coan’s office said Monday afternoon their investigators concluded the blaze began in a single Jaguar and spread to 18 more vehicles, causing about $500,000 in damage in all. But they would not identify a cause.
Authorities said the vehicles were customer cars being left off for service or waiting to be picked up, not new cars on the lot for sale.
"We’re not prepared to say it's suspicious or not suspicious at this point," said Sudbury Police Chief Scott Nix. "We're considering everything, dotting I's, crossing T's."
Asked whether residents of Sudbury, Wayland, and surrounding towns should be concerned an automobile arsonist may be at large, Nix explained, "I always tell people to be cautious. Sudbury's a great town and safe and so forth - and awareness of your surroundings is always good."
Nix said it was important to recognize that "it started with one vehicle. Did they come in and light up all 18 at once? No."
Also, Nix made clear, authorities are not confirming or denying the original blaze was intentionally set.
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"The good news is that nobody got hurt. They're just cars," said southern New England auto magnate Herb Chambers, who visited the dealership – one of dozens under the Herb Chambers Company umbrella -- to see the damage. "The people that have those cars - hopefully, we can make it right for them - we can get them into a replacement vehicle quickly."
The dealership sells vehicles that retail, for 2014 and 2015 models, for $80,000 to $140,000 and more.
The call came in from a passerby just after 1 a.m. for the blaze on Route 20.
Firefighters say they made an aggressive effort to contain the flames, but many cars and SUV's were already damaged when they arrived. A spokeswoman for Fire Marshal Coan said she could not comment yet on how long surveillance video showed the blaze developing before the passerby called 911.
No injuries were reported.
