A Hamilton auto repair and sales shop appeared to be on fire twice in less than eight hours.

The first fire started Monday around 11:45 a.m. inside a repair garage at 24 Clark Ave.

Fire crews were called back to the same address just before 7:30 p.m.

Crews were still on scene around 9 p.m. removing a portion of the roof to ensure the fire was out, said Hamilton Fire spokesperson Claudio Mostacci.

He said it was not yet known whether this was a completely separate fire or caused by "charring" from the earlier blaze.

The earlier fire caused close to $20,000 in damage.

The suspected cause of the initial fire was a wood-burning stove. No one was injured in that fire.

After the morning blaze was out, Mostacci added "with all the vehicles in there, if they started igniting, it could have been worse than it was."