CHARLOTTE, N.C. (QUEEN CITY NEWS) — Investigators are trying to figure out what caused a storage facility fire in southwest Charlotte.
Commanders were called to a three-alarm fire at the facility off South Tryon Street near Westinghouse Boulevard on Monday. It took 90 firefighters about 50 minutes to get the flames under control.
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Those with belongings stored there said they’re going to keep an extra close eye on their stuff from now on.
“It’s a lot of devastation,” said Ali Piolo. “People probably lost a lot of their items but we don’t know what started it.”
She was moving her stuff into her new unit Monday and came back in the evening to find dozens of fire trucks with lights flashing, lining the driveway of the facility.
“There was all emergency vehicles,” she said. “We could not pull in to get to our unit. We were afraid maybe something had happened with ours or the truck we had here.”
Battalion Chief John Lipcsak told Queen City News crews got the call about the fire just before 4:00 p.m. Eventually, it turned into a three-alarm response with between eight and 10 units affected by the flames.
“The overabundance of storage that’s inside these units, a lot of people keep a lot of material inside these units and they’re packed to the top,” said Lipcsak.
People working nearby came outside to see what was happening.
“I’ve never seen anything like this response,” said Erin Raymond, who works at a nearby gas station. “It was really loud.”
For people with belongings in storage units, many questions remain.
“Was it something electrical?” said Piolo. “Was it something somebody had stored in the storage unit? I mean there could be different factors. Was somebody in there and accidentally did something? We don’t know. We’d like to know what kind of happened because that will determine how long you stay.”
Fire officials tell us no one was hurt in the fire.
