Less than a month before pedicab drivers roll out to cash in on South by Southwest festival crowds, an overnight fire ripped through an East Austin warehouse early Tuesday, wiping out nearly a fifth of the city's pedicabs, city officials said.

The Austin Fire Department responded around 3:20 a.m. to a heavy fire coming from a large sheet metal warehouse in the 1500 block of East Fourth Street near Comal Street. Neighbors said a plume of black smoke rose over the nearby buildings and sparks reached their windows.

No one was injured, but the Fire Department estimated that the two pedicab companies housed in the building, Metrocycle Pedicabs and Pedicab Adventures, lost anywhere from 75 to 100 pedicabs, with damage to the structure and contents totaling $400,000.

According to city officials, that's nearly a fifth of the 505 pedicabs licensed to operate in Austin.

Fire officials ruled the blaze accidental, saying it was started by an electrical short inside the warehouse.

By mid-morning Tuesday, the smell of burnt metal lingered in the air near Comal Street. Employees of the two companies were cleaning up and assessing the damage but did not want to comment on the fire, nor the effect it may have on business leading up to the South by Southwest festival season — one of the busiest times of the year for pedicab operators — which begins on March 8.

Curtis Allen, who drives a pedicab, said many independent operators stored their pedicabs at the East Austin warehouse because it was in a convenient location and cheaper to do so. Throughout the day, many came by to check on their cabs.

"I am just seeing what the damage was," Allen said. "It's not looking too good."

The city's Transportation Department said it would be helping pedicab operators recover by holding onto their permits for no additional fee, as well as inspecting replacement pedicabs at no cost.

"We recognize the value pedicabs have to our transportation network and to the culture of our city," Transportation Department spokeswoman Jen Samp said. "It's something that we want to be able to help with as much as we can."

A warehouse fire in downtown Austin early this morning destroyed up to 100 pedicabs, fire officials say. Two pedicab businesses are housed at this location on East 4th. So far, employees haven’t wanted to talk about what happened. Still waiting to hear the cause of the fire.pic.twitter.com/ToxYRNgR5M

— Mary Huber (@marymhuber)February 19, 2019

1508 E 4thpic.twitter.com/qAR1cOPwVJ

— Austin Fire Info (@AustinFireInfo)February 19, 2019

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