We often take awesome car collections and museums for granted in the automotive industry, proclaiming that we’ll go see a certain exhibit or collection of cars “one of these days”, even if it’s just down the street. But in Colorado this week, automotive enthusiasts are learning the hard way not to put off seeing those collections you’ve always wanted to see with the announcement that Erie’s “Cadillac Ranch” sustained major damage in a fire that broke out at the facility on Wednesday morning. Check out the aftermath of this tragedy in the FOX 31 video above.

Images: Ashley Michels via FOX 31

The fire initially started in a mobile home adjacent to the facility before spreading to the nearby “Cadillac Ranch”, a barn-like storage facility housing dozens of collector cars (mostly vintage Cadillacs), affecting upwards of 30 classic cars on October 8th. The fire, which started with an explosion around 9:00 a.m., according to the North Metro Fire District, took crews over two hours to put out. Luckily, no one was hurt, including the man who had been in the facility working on a car at the time of the explosion.

In initial reports, at least eight classic cars are believed to be a total loss, along with a major building and the mobile home. Investigators were on scene for hours trying to determine the cause of the explosion because of the high dollar amount associated with all the damages.

While it’s a tragic loss of classic cars, there is hope that the facility can be rebuilt and the collection of cars housed there completed once again, much like what happened after the September 2013 flood damaged the property and many cars last year.