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Purely Storage, located at 2214 Spurlock Rd. in Nederland. -
The damaged Purely Storage, located at 2214 Spurlock Rd. in Nederland.
California-based ownership of a Nederland storage unit that burst into flames mid-holidays 2022 has responded to The Examiner’s coverage roughly a month later.
Brad Lund, part-owner and CEO of Purely Storage, said he had been in receipt of the article featured in the Dec. 8 edition of The Examiner, “No answers to what sparked costly storage blaze,” and was now prepared to report results of an investigation as to what sparked the costly blaze that consumed about 50 storage units and the office of Purely Storage, 2214 Spurlock Rd. in Nederland at about 9:20 p.m. on Nov. 26. According to Lund, the investigation revealed that the fire originated within the storage units near the center of the building.
Lund, of Newport Beach, California, stated that he received word of the final report on Jan. 4.
“The fire originated within the storage units near the center of the building,” Lund wrote of investigator findings. “Due to the building contents reaching flashover and then moving into the free burning stage for an extended period of time, the origin and cause of the fire could not be determined.”
As revealed in The Examiner article, “Customers were locked out” for an extended period of time while awaiting ownership to advise as to what was going on.
“But that was only for about a week while the property was still a crime scene and while an investigation was being done,” Lund retorts in his January 2023 email. “Customers in unaffected units have had full access to their units, albeit by appointment, as the entry and exit gates had to be opened manually after having been damaged in the fire.”
Lund advised that customers in fire-damaged units have not been allowed to rummage or sort through the ashes, mainly due to obvious building safety issues.
“Interior support structures were consumed in the fire, the roof of the building has completely collapsed, the perimeter walls are falling over, and storage doors are bent, torn, and inoperable with sharp, exposed edges,” he reported. “The building is clearly a hazard and will be entirely demolished. We cannot, legally or in good conscience, allow customers to crawl through the wreckage for fear of serious bodily injury.”
According to a report on the fire released by Fire Chief Lance Wood of the Jefferson County Water Control Improvement District (WCID) 10 Volunteer Fire Department, the scene was released to the property managers at 1:38 p.m. Nov. 27, a little more than 12 hours after the fire was reported to first repsponders.
As to the claim that customer belongings were unnecessarily exposed to the rain in the days that followed, Lund stated the fire had already consumed all of the entire building, sparing nothing.
“Worse yet,” Lund added, “the charred remains were already soaking wet as a result of the fire fighting effort.”
Lund noted he was thankful for the quick response of the fire department and grateful that no one was injured.
“All of our customers were notified within hours of the fire (using the contact information we have on file),” Lund stated. “We are doing everything we can to assist our customers in filing their individual insurance claims.”
Dec. 1, one family was at the facility rummaging through damaged possessions and salvaged anything they could. Fire Chief Wood said the estimated value loss of the structure was $400,000.