Firefighters at the scene of the Charles Street garage blaze on Thursday. Picture: Chris Davey.

A Mini was destroyed when fire ripped through a Charles Street garage on Thursday afternoon.

Two pumps from Herne Bay’s Green Watch rushed to the workshop near Rodney’s Sports Bar at 3.30pm. An overturned electrical heater appears to have started the blaze, which quickly spread to the eaves and roof.

Crew manager Paul Austin explained the fire had already taken hold by the time they arrived on scene.

He said: “We had to make a forced entry to both the front and the back of the garage as smoke was already blowing out into the street making visibility quite difficult.

“We also punctured a hole in the roof to increase the ventilation. That also gave us a chance to fight the flames from above as well as below.

"The freezing temperatures meant we also called out the highways officers to grit the road as the water we’d used was turning to ice almost immediately.”

Crews had the fire under control by 4.30pm.