Approximately 80 golf carts were stored in the 10,000-sq.-ft. building at the Northwest Austin, Texas club. “The next step is to get it rebuilt and start from the ground up,” says General Manager Josele Diaz. “Maybe now we can make some improvements that weren’t able to be done.”

An employee at Avery Ranch Golf Course in Northwest Austin, Texas called firefighters in the early morning hours of Dec. 5 after seeing the cart barn on fire, KTBC reported. There were about 80 golf carts inside the 10,000 sq. ft. building.

General Manager Josele Diaz told KTBC he rushed over when he got the call from his employee. However, nothing could have prepared him for what he was about to see.

“When I got here, the place was ablaze, and it was burning,” Diaz said. “The whole thing was engulfed in flames and the roof collapsed.”

The cart barn where the fire happened is used as storage, which AFD said proved to be a challenge in fighting the fire, KTBC reported.

“There is a lot more difficulty getting into and making access to the structure itself because it was a storage facility storing approximately 80 golf carts,” said Josh Anderson, AFD Captain. “It had some security features that we had to overcome using power tools and saws to get inside.”

Anderson said the initial thought was the fire was small, but when the unit was opened, firefighters immediately had to go into defense mode, KTBC reported.

“We recognized and realized that the fire was much more extensive than what we could see from the exterior,” he said. “We then transitioned to a defensive operation from a safety perspective, and we fought the fire from the exterior of the building.”

Around 50 firefighters were called out to fight the fire from Austin, Cedar Park and Round Rock fire departments, KTBC reported.

“For the most part, I couldn’t even fathom a guess as to how it started,” Diaz said. “The next step is to get it rebuilt and start from the ground up. Maybe now we can make some improvements that weren’t able to be done.”

Still no word on the cause of the fire, KTBC reported.