The blaze came from the hulk of his wife’s car – wrecked in an accident a few hours previously – but which Mr Preece’s son and his girlfriend survived.

The Tenambit mechanic told the Mercury yesterday of his family’s double trauma – and also of their luck.

“Our son was in a major accident with his friend while driving my wife’s Toyota Corolla at Gresford on Thursday,” Mr Preece, 38, said.

“They were so lucky.

“They were both air lifted to Newcastle’s John Hunter Hospital and are both all right.

“The car was a total write-off and we brought it home to Metford Road late on Thursday night, where it was put into our shed, next door to my workshop.”

It was the next day, about 9.30am on Friday, while Mr Preece was waiting for customers to arrive, that the wrecked Toyota suddenly caught fire.

“We were getting my wife’s personal papers from the car’s glove box when we saw smoke coming from the vehicle,” Mr Preece said.

“I think something must have shorted in the engine.

“The flames had cut our power and we had no water.

“I grabbed an extinguisher from the workshop, but the fire was burning inside the car.

“I couldn’t get inside the vehicle and the foam was spraying over the car roof.

“Intense heat was coming out the sides.”

Mr Preece, who was treated for burns to his arms and hands, took hold of a chain on his work truck, but he couldn’t get it around the front of the car.

“I could no longer stand the heat,” he said.

“I had planned to drag the car away and let it burn out in the paddock.”

In just a few seconds, flames from the burning vehicle engulfed his workshop.

A Fire Brigade spokesman said five people from three nearby properties were evacuated as they fought to bring the blaze under control.

“I have lost everything in my workshop – heavy vehicle gear worth hundreds of thousands of dollars,” Mr Preece

said.

“I will be working out insurance details on Monday.

“But I built my business up from nothing and I will still keep going,” he said.