Thirty-six units at a Chesterfield County self-storage facility were damaged in a fire this morning. No injuries were reported.
It took about 40 minutes to control the fire, which was reported by a passerby about 7:30 a.m. at Iron Bridge Storage. The facility is in the 6000 block of Blest Lane, just off Iron Bridge Road near the Chesterfield County Airport.
Chesterfield Fire & EMS Lt. Matt Coffin said the first units on scene found heavy fire in three storage units, and by the time the fire was controlled, a second alarm had been called and 10 units had been damaged by fire and another 26 had water damage.
Firefighters switched into containment mode, calling a third alarm to get more crews on the scene to help contain the water runoff, Coffin said. The decision was made to contain the runoff on the property because of uncertainty over what exactly what was being stored in the units, he said.
"The concern here is that working inside these facilities is like being inside people's storage sheds. You don't know what's inside them," he said. "We have to treat the unknowns, and that's weighing on the side of caution."
Once firefighters controlled the water runoff, fire marshals began an investigation that Coffin said likely would take several days to determine the cause of the fire.
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