1 dead, firefighter injured after storage facility fire: HCFR

Investigation into deadly storage facility fire

Investigators are looking into the cause of a deadly public storage unit fire. FOX 13's Ariel Plasencia reports.

TAMPA, Fla. - One person is dead, and a firefighter was injured after a fire at a storage facility on Friday night.

According to Hillsborough County Fire Rescue, crews responded to a two-alarm fire at the Public Storage on 6940 N. 56th Street, Tampa around 8:38 p.m.

Upon arrival, crews were met with heavy fire conditions at the storage facility.

"Those fires are very difficult for firefighters," Rob Herrin, Hillsborough County Fire Rescue public information section chief, said of these types of calls. "You don't know what's burning. Any storage unit could have any myriad of things in it. And they're each sectioned off, right?"

And because of that, it can make it difficult to isolate the fire, Herrin added.

Crews initially tried to knock it down from the inside. But as fire conditions got worse, firefighters had to evacuate and transition to a defensive attack, fighting the flames with water from above.  

After two hours, firefighters brought the blaze under control.

"When it was safe to reenter and the fire was under control, there was one adult male fatality," Herrin said.

One firefighter sustained a minor injury during the fire and was treated on scene.

What they're saying:

"We're going to store what we're going to store," Herrin added. "Sometimes there's a hot spot of some sort, something that produces enough heat to start that up."

"We've had fires in the past where there's a car in one. And then someone storing their pool supplies in the next one. And the next one’s full of boxes and mattresses — and that's the nature of the beast with storage unit fires. Each unit, we have no idea what's in it. Most houses, we have a good idea, you know? Apartments even, just furniture and personal belongings. But with these, you have no idea what you’re dealing with."

According to Public Storage's website, renters are not allowed to store hazardous, illegal, perishable or living things in the storage units.

Staff with Public Storage told FOX 13 on scene they have no comment at this time.

What we don't know:

Herrin told FOX 13 foul play is not suspected. But investigators will take a close look at what happened to determine the cause of the fire.

This is still an active investigation. Updates will be released as they become available.