Hundred Firefighters Battle CA Storage Blaze

April 29 -- One hundred firefighters knocked down a four-alarm fire at a two-story self-storage facility in Laguna Hills on Sunday morning, April 29, 2018.

A roof and wall partially collapsed in the blaze. By Sunday afternoon, fire officials counted 135 units as damaged or destroyed by the fire, smoke or water. Salvage and cleanup are expected to take all day.

Despite firefighters having to scramble to safety at one point, no injuries were reported, said Orange County Fire Capt. Steve Concialdi. He said the firefighters also were able to keep the fire from turning a corner at the L-shaped Public Storage facility and burning another 100 units.

The blaze at the facility in the 25000 block of Cousteau Street broke out at 3:22 a.m., said Fire Authority Capt. Tony Bommarito. The OCFA’s initial count of 90 firefighters grew to 100 by 7:15 a.m., when the fire was knocked down.

“It burned for four hours,” Bommarito said. “There’s so much stuff in the storage units. There was just a tremendous fire load.”

At one point, firefighters had to go into “defensive” mode, creating a “collapse zone,” Bommarito said. That meant pulling everyone out of the structure, surrounding it with large firefighting trucks and soaking the building with aerial streams.

The facility has a total of 970 storage units, Concialdi said. Those affected were on the side bordering Alicia Parkway.

On Sunday afternoon, Kathy Furlan looked on as firefighters cleared away debris. From the outside, her unit on the southwest corner of the facility appeared safe. But she didn’t know for sure.

“We’re hoping it’s okay,” the Laguna Hills resident said. “A lot of what we have in there is in Rubbermaid bins, so hopefully that saved it from water damage.”

Including among the furniture in the Furlans’ two garages are heirlooms – medals her father earned during World War II and letters he wrote to her mother from the European theatre during the war.

“I’m freaked out because they told us no one is able to come in for the day,” Furlan, 67, said. “The nerves are really going right now.”

Bob Hilton, an Aliso Viejo resident, drove by the facility at 7 a.m. after getting a message about the fire.

Hilton, who has an upstairs unit adjacent to Alicia Parkway, knew immediately his unit was destroyed.

“It was already ash by the time I got here,” he said.

Hilton, 66, immediately thought of the camping gear and furniture in the unit, knowing it was replaceable.

Then he remembered the photo albums of his two children growing up while the family lived in Palm Desert.

“The more I thought about it, the more sick I got,” he said. “That stuff can’t be replaced.”

In addition to making sure the fire is completely out, firefighters will try to save anything that might be salvageable, officials said.

The cause of the fire is under investigation. No damage estimate was immediately available.
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