OKCFD Battles Blaze & The Heat At SW OKC Storage Facility

Thirteen storage units were damaged after a blaze broke out near SW 3rd Street and Meridian Ave. Locked units and gates that keep the items in storage safe added extra hurdles to firefighters, as those doors kept crews out while the fire grew. 

That fire grew quickly deep within the storage facility. Firefighters had to cut through anything that stood in their way to get to the flames. 

"This happens to be one of the interior buildings, firefighters definitely had some access issues just getting into the complex," said OCFD's Battalion Chief, Bnny Fulkerson. "They had to force a gate to get in and then they had to force multiple overhead doors on individual units." 

The fire started around 10 a.m. Monday morning in one storage unit. The fire burned through two other units and smoke and water damaged another ten. 

"Now these are concrete construction which helps a little bit because they're resistant to fire to some degree; but again, you have to be very careful when you have buildings this close together," said Battalion Chief Benny Fulkerson. 

Someone close to the person who worked at Storage for U when the fire happened said that employee even helped crews and unlocked one of those units and got a face full of smoke. That person told me she got checked out at the scene and is OK. Firefighters also had to battle the heat alongside the flames. 

"We're also wearing very heavy firefighting gear which also encapsulates that heat inside and in addition to that they're also working on a metal roof right now that attracts a lot of heat," said Fulkerson. 

The cause of the fire is still under investigation.