A large shop fire in central Alberta has destroyed a collection of vintage and one-of-a-kind automobiles, say local firefighters.

The blaze broke out in a 40,000 square-foot shop at a rural property north of Olds Thursday afternoon.

Thirty-three firefighters from Olds, Bowden, Didsbury, Carstairs, Sundre and Mountain View County all battled the fire for more than six hours in temperatures that dipped to -25 C, hauling in over 140,000 gallons of water.

A crew also had to remain on standby overnight.

The fire was captured on video by Noel West of the Olds Albertan.

On mobile? You can see the video here.

A passerby spotted smoke and alerted the residents, said Olds' assistant fire Chief Scott Chant.

Inside the building were the homeowner's vintage and one-of-a-kind automobiles, restored farm machinery and other collectibles. The damage was estimated by the fire department to be around $3 million.

"It's a great loss for him to have almost 50 years of his life, all of his hard work with these vehicles and such, to see it destroyed like that," said Chant. "But we can all be thankful that there was no loss of life and nobody was hurt and they can go on from there."

The fire department said the cause of the fire is under investigation, however it likely started near an area of the shop where automotive paint was stored.

No one was hurt.