Fire at Fremont's Extra Space Storage facility destroys units, memories

FREMONT, Calif. (KGO) -- An early morning fire in Fremont destroyed more than 50 storage units, along with a lifetime of memories inside.

"This is just devastating," storage unit owner Anthony Melgar said. "Not only to me, but to my family. We have a whole life of stuff in there."

Fremont fire crews responded to a fire at the Extra Space Storage facility just after 6 a.m. on Monday, but it was too late.

Fifty-three units in total were destroyed in the two-story building.

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One belonged to Melgar for 10 years with 40 plus years of items inside.

"It's stuff that is priceless," Melgar said. "My family photos, they're all there. I have all the video tapes of my son walking and they're all gone. Everything is gone."

The fire was out by the time ABC7 News crews arrived, but Battalion Chief Greg Biddle says toxic smoke and packed units made it a challenging fire to fight.

"It progressed rapidly," Biddle said. "We ended up calling and saying we were going defensive on this fire, which is pulling crews out of the building and fighting it from the outside. We used our two aerial trucks and we put up water towers and they flowed water to extinguish from the exterior."

Crews remained on scene throughout the day to monitor hot spots in the facility and continue their investigation.

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Fremont fire is reviewing security footage of who was going in and out to find a possible lead.

The facility's owner had no comment, but Melgar believes people may have been living in some of the units.

"We let them know many times this is happening," Melgar said. "And we come upstairs and sure enough they have one of those small things cooking. And they had electricity coming from the outlet down."

There's no official cause of the fire at this time. Melgar can only wonder if something could've been done to prevent this painful loss.

"That is a lifetime, a lifetime of things all gone," Melgar said.

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