ATTLEBORO - Two trailers used for storage and two cars burned along with part of a fence outside the Ponderosa Steakhouse in South Attleboro late Monday afternoon in a fire authorities said could have been much worse.

The fire was reported about 4:37 p.m. at 11 Horton Ave., off Route 1 where the restaurant is located.

The vehicles that burned were among a row of cars and trucks parked there.

James France Jr. lives at the site and repairs vehicles, fire officials said.

No injuries were reported. "We managed to stop the fire at two cars. A lot more vehicles could have burned up," Fire Capt. Bill LaPlume of the South Attleboro Fire Station said. "One of the cars had a gas tank full and it burst, and we ended up using a tank of foam out of our foam unit. We ran out of water and needed to call a second engine."

There was no explosion, and most of the gasoline was burned off, LaPlume said.

"There was extremely heavy black smoke. We thought it was a house fire when we first pulled up," LaPlume said.

About a half dozen sections of a 6-foot-high fence at Ponderosa burned.

"We are guessing, as wet as it has been, it appears someone threw a cigarette butt in the mulch," LaPlume said. "It started near the trailers."

The trailers, which had mattresses and other items stored in them, were a camper that had been converted for storage and was gutted, and a small utility trailer, LaPlume said.

The vehicles burned were a 1994 Saab and a 1987 Oldsmobile Cutlass. Damage was estimated at $2,400.