Fire guts Monroe storage locker business
Nov 15, 2012, 2:07 PM | Updated: 2:22 pm
A fire that destroyed part of a large storage locker business in Monroe burned for several hours. Firefighters had to tear off roofs and cut holes in the metal walls to fight the fire at Chain Lake Self Storage that was reported just before 1:00 a.m. Thursday.
Monroe Fire Chief Jamie Silva said the units have individual locks and added that storage locker fires are notoriously hard to fight because they share a common attic.
“When you have one unit on fire, it’s easy for it to go to the next unit and typically, when people use storage units, they fill them full of boxes of stuff and combustible materials. Once you get them going, they’re difficult to put out,” he explained.
Firefighters were eventually able to stop the spread of the fire and limit the damage to 70 or 80 storage lockers in a complex of an estimated 500 to 600 unit.
“I think some of them are probably salvageable or the stuff in them is, but the majority of the structure is destroyed,” said Silva.
Firefighters from several agencies in King and Snohomish counties prevented flames from reaching the office and caretaker’s residence.
People who rented the lockers showed up later in the morning and afternoon in hopes of pulling some of their belongings from the buildings.
Firefighters have figured out the area where the fire started, but a cause is not yet known. No injuries were reported.
