Lancaster business owners recall hearing sounds of explosions during salvage yard fire [Video]

LANCASTER, Calif. (KABC) — Firefighters spent Friday battling hot spots after a massive fire at a car recycling yard in Lancaster scorched an estimated 1,500 vehicles.

The fire burned for hours Thursday, sending up thick black smoke over the Antelope Valley.

As many as 1,500 cars and 10 acres on the 20-acre property were reported to have been scorched by flames as temperatures topped 100 degrees in the high desert.

Firefighters have since gained control of the fire, but the smoke prompted a shelter-in-place warning for residents.

“I was here [Thursday] all day. I was the last business open,” said Bo Thevelius, who owns a business near the recycling yard.

Thevelius and one of his employees didn’t evacuate and witnessed what looked like an inferno in the recycling yard.

“Every single, maybe, two minutes, you’d hear almost like a big loud gunshot go off, and all the cars exploding. Every couple of minutes, you’d …