CHARLOTTE — As many as 90 firefighters are responding to a large fire that began burning overnight at a storage facility in southwest Charlotte, according to the Charlotte Fire Department.
The fire was reported before midnight at an Extra Space Storage business on South Tryon between Nevada Boulevard and General Drive, CFD said.
By 6:45 a.m., traffic began moving through both directions of South Tryon after firetrucks and water lines blocked the road for about six hours.
As of 5 a.m. Thursday morning, the fire was a five-alarm response and crews were still working to get to the heart of the fire, Captain Jackie Gilmore said.
“These firefighters worked tirelessly through the night to make sure the fire didn’t spread to any other storage buildings,” he said.
We’re following breaking news in southwest Charlotte as crews work to get a massive fire under control. South Tryon Street is closed because of the response here. Updates on @wsoctv at 4:30 this morning. pic.twitter.com/5CTltUr5ho
— Anthony Kustura (@AnthonyWSOC9) July 21, 2022
Gilmore said the first responders to reach the storage facility faced heavy smoke and flames coming from a unit.
No one was hurt in the response, Gilmore said, but MEDIC was on the scene assisting firefighters.
“Firefighters are rehabbing, meaning they’re with MEDIC right now cooling down, checking blood pressure and making sure they’re OK before they continue to go back inside,” Gilmore said.
#breaking: Firefighters are putting out a fire at a storage facility in South Charlotte. They've been cutting through some of the units, and removing items. MEDIC has been checking fire fighters to make sure they're okay. @wsoctv https://t.co/e64IuFbn9t
— Gina Esposito (@GinaWSOC9) July 21, 2022
CFD first said it was responding to a fire at a business after 11:40 p.m. on Wednesday. By 12:20 a.m., the blaze had been upgraded to a three-alarm fire and the response continued to increase through the morning.
Channel 9 crews on the scene flames and thick white smoke coming from the storage units as firefighters swarmed to put out the fire.
“Right now, we’re having to remove items from the storage to get to the scene of the fire,” Gilmore said early Thursday morning. “We still have heavy smoke pushing from the structure.”
Gilmore said it was too early to speculate on a cause of the fire as crews have yet to reach its source.
This is a developing story. Check wsoctv.com for updates.
(WATCH BELOW: Flames tear through south Charlotte condos; 1 firefighter hurt, Charlotte Fire says)
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