Tears in eyes and broom in hand, Cathy Cardinale swept dirt from the showroom floor of the Lawn and Saw shop at 1412 N. U.S. Highway 190 in Covington. It’s all she and husband Melvin “Red” have left after what fire officials called an “extremely intense fire” left their large mechanic shop in ruins Wednesday.

“I still don’t know what happened,” Cardinale said yesterday. “It happened so fast.”

What started at just before 9:30 a.m. as a small fire somewhere in the shop area quickly grew into a fuel-fed, raging inferno. Thick black plumes of smoke billowing high into the sky that could be seen across most of Covington poured out the top of the warehouse on the rear of the property.

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The black column of smoke rapidly turned into bright orange flames as the first of Fire Protection District 12 trucks arrived.

“When I pulled up, which was within a minute of our first apparatus arriving, it was heavily involved,” Chief of Training Stephen Krentel said.

Soon, many more engines followed, including aid from Fire Districts 4 and 8, the Louisiana State Police, the St. Tammany Parish Sheriff’s Office and the Covington Police as they swiftly barricaded much of U.S. 190 because of water hoses stretching down the highway.

Krentel said the structure contained mowers and other equipment that held fuel, which worked as a catalyst to the fire.

That coupled with the maze of corridors in the shop area meant fire crews decided to take a defensive stand on the facility and focus their efforts on preventing the flames from spreading to the showroom area.

“The back area had been added on many times so it was compartmentalized, which caused problems for us,” Krentel said.

The flames quickly inundated the entire rear structure, sending waves of hot air across the property, but not enough to dry the tears from Amy Newman’s eyes as she stood nearby weeping at the loss of what became her second home.

“It’s a family-run business, and I’ve been working here since I was born,” she said, barely finishing her sentence as she broke into sobs.

She joined the rest of her relatives as they embraced in somber silence and watched the 26-year-old business go up in flames.

With a collaborative effort between fire districts, law enforcement agencies and even off-duty firefighters who hopped out to lend a hand after seeing the flames from their vehicles, the fire was under control after 30 minutes of battling. But it was by no means extinguished.

Just when the flames seemed to subside nearly an hour after they began, several 55-gallon tanks in the extreme rear of the shop filled with used oil silently combusted, sending a massive fireball skyward as onlookers shielded their faces from the sudden wave of extreme heat.

Even with all of the intense action no one was injured, but most was lost.

“We saved some of the mowers we had in front of the store and most of the merchandise in the showroom is OK,” Cardinale said. “But we lost everything from the shop.”

But Cardinale is extremely grateful for what is left.

“I want them to know we really appreciate that they got here in time and did such a great job,” she said of the first responders. “They went beyond the call of duty.”

Cardinale also said the support from the community has been unbelievable with numerous neighbors stopping by to offer their time and labor to help out.

Although it probably will not be an exact replica, Cardinale said they plan to rebuild and open once insurance woes are settled.

“They need to keep it going. That’s always been a landmark because everyone knows where the Lawn and Saw shop is,” FD 12 Chief Darrell Guilott said.