Officials are calling an early morning fire at an automotive business in Burnaby, B.C., on Sunday suspicious.

The fire began Sunday around 4:30 a.m. PT at False Creek Collision in the 6600-block of Royal Oak Avenue.

Assistant Burnaby Fire Chief David Graystone said the fire appears to be cause by a person, but investigators with the Burnaby Fire Department and Burnaby RCMP will determine if it was accidentally or deliberately set.

Graystone said there was extensive damage to a large storage area, which is attached to the outside of the automotive shop. He said the large shed stored machinery and equipment.

"The outlying building is basically gutted," Graystone said, adding that some smoke got into the main part of the building, but firefighters extinguished the flames before they could spread.

Officials say the fire that gutted a section of False Creek Collision Sunday morning appears to have been human-caused, and may have even been deliberately set. (Rafferty Baker/CBC)

Crews had difficulty gaining access to several parts of the business and had to use a variety of tools to force their way into the building.

"It was a very secure building and so we had to cut into the chain link fence on both sides and then we also had to do access into the building because we were worried about the main part of building, extension there," said Graystone.

"We had to cut into the door, break the door off to get into the main part of the building."

Graystone said about 40 firefighters with eight trucks responded to the call for the second-alarm fire.