PHOTO GALLERY: Fire Guts Garage, Displaces Family in Twinbrook

No one was injured, but a family of four was displaced when a fire gutted a two-car garage at their home on Coral Sea Avenue in Rockville on Monday afternoon.

Fire investigators are looking into the cause of the fire, which broke out at about 3:30 p.m. The homeowner said it started as a fire in his car, which he was working on in the two-car garage.

Wildo Salazar said he left the garage when he heard one of the family's dogs barking in the house.

"I was in the garage and everything was fine," Salazar said. "When I went back in I kind of smelled smoke and I saw in the car a small flame. It blew up quickly."

The family's two dogs were unharmed.

Fire and rescue units from Rockville and Kensington stations were on the scene and contained the fire within about 15 minutes of the initial call to 911, said Russell Dawson, deputy chief with the Rockville Volunteer Fire Department.

Smoke was pouring out of the opened garage bay door when fire units arrived, Dawson said. "The smoke obscured the street, that's how bad it was," Dawson said. "[It was] very heavy fire."

Salazar, who said he called 911 when he saw the fire, said that he believed the fire was electrical. The hood of the car was open and the flame was coming from behind the engine in the vicinity of the electrical system, he said.

County fire investigators have not yet ruled an official cause. An estimate of property damage would not be made until tomorrow at earliest, said Assistant Chief Scott Graham of the county fire and rescue service.