A Lowestoft man is still recovering his business more than two months after being hit by a devastating fire.
On February 3, Keith Burton, owner of Lowestoft Touring Caravans, left his business at South Lowestoft Industrial Estate, for only a short period of time, when a neighbouring business owner rang to inform him his workshop was ablaze. 'I lost everything - three cars, three motorbikes and a caravan, my son estimated about £100,000 pounds of damage had been done; more than 30 years of work was destroyed in about half an hour,' said Mr Burton, 68.
Among the vehicles lost was a 1984 Thunderbird police car, which Mr Burton had spent two years restoring and planned to enter into car shows later in the year; however as consequence of the fire this is no longer possible.
Mr Burton added: 'You cannot think about things like this you just have to move on, lots of friends have rallied round to give a helping help.
'We have been brushing ash out for months and are still drying money out from the safe!'
Three fire crews attended the fire at the unit on Pinbush Road and were able to quickly extinguish the flames; believed to be have been caused by an electrical fault.
A friend of Mr Burton, who wished to remain anonymous, explained: 'I arrived at the end of the fire and all I could see was water everywhere, the place was drenched; it looked like a bomb had hit it.'
Despite no power source and with large areas of roof still missing, a determined Mr Burton has continued to trade, using the yard in front of the business as a makeshift work space.
Mr Burton said: 'I built this building from scratch over the course of six years, after purchasing the land in 1984, and aim to get a roof on by the winter time in order to continue working as it is my passion.'
Do you have a Lowestoft story? Email simon.ward@archant.co.uk
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