CHARLOTTE — Crews with the Charlotte Fire Department battled a massive fire Monday afternoon at Public Storage in southwest Charlotte.
A third alarm was struck shortly before 4:30 p.m. at the self-storage business on South Tryon Street near Westinghouse Boulevard.
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It took 90 firefighters about 50 minutes to control the fire.
Ali Pioli was at the facility on Monday to move stuff into a unit. She was surprised to find dozens of firefighters there.
“We were pulling up to come back to our unit and weren’t allowed to get in,” she said.
“We talked to one of the firemen that was out there and he said, yeah, there’s a fire, a very bad fire.”
Battalion Chief John Lipcsak says an overabundance of items inside the units led to the third alarm.
“A lot of people keep a lot of material inside these units, and they’re packed to the top,” he said. “So, just with the manpower-intensive operation that was taking place caused us to call a third alarm.”
Eight to 10 units were impacted, the fire chief said.
Pioli’s unit wasn’t impacted by the fire, but she says she’s thinking about those that were.
“That can be heartbreaking, because somebody may have lost all of her stuff,” she said.
There were no injuries and the cause of the fire is under investigation.
This is a developing story. Check wsoctv.com for updates.