Firefighters spent the night battling a major blaze at a council yard in Oban.
An explosion at the height of the drama is thought to have involved an acetylene cannister.
There are no reports of injuries.
Local crews were joined by colleagues from Lochgilphead, Inveraray, Tyndrum, Bridge of Orchy, Tarbert and Milngavie to tackle the fire in the town’s Soroba Road.
The alarm was raised at 1.30am on Friday.
Firefighters used water jets to stop the fire spreading and to cool gas cannisters stored at the site.
Although close to a housing estate, no properties were evacuated.
Two fire appliances remained at the scene.
Incident commander, station manager Elliot said: “Our crews have dealt with a significant fire.
“We had 30 firefighters tackling the blaze at its height, with two water jets and a water tower.”
A spokesman for Argyll and Bute Council confirmed the blaze had extensively damaged its fleet and maintenance depot.
“Thankfully, no-one was injured,” he said.
He added: “Police and fire are in attendance and the depot remains cordoned off in the interests of safety.
“This will obviously cause some disruption to our refuse and recycling collection service.
“We’re putting contingency arrangements in place such as bringing vehicles in from other areas to keep disruption to a minimum.”
He said further information about refuse and recycling arrangements would be published on the council website.