The fire is now out at the U-Haul Moving and Storage facility along Ragland Road in Beckley, but crews still have a lot of work ahead of them as they find the cause for the blaze.
According to Beckley Fire Captain Ernest Parsons, the call came in at 2:25 p.m. on Wednesday, Nov. 17, regarding a fire at the U-Haul facility.
Once on scene, it took firefighters a couple of hours to get the blaze under control due to roof collapse and weather conditions.
Thick black smoke billowed from the building and could be seen throughout the area as crews worked to put the fire out.
At this time, it is believed that no one was hurt in the fire, Parsons said. He did confirm that a construction crew had been working in the area before the fire was reported, although the exact cause of the fire is yet to be determined.
Approximately one-third of the building has been considerably damaged, Parsons noted. Individual storage pods and indoor storage units were affected.
Officials with Raleigh County 911 stated that in addition to the Beckley Fire Department, Beaver Fire Department and Jan-Care EMS were on scene. Officers with the Beckley Police Department and the Raleigh County Sheriff’s Department provided traffic control.
More information on the cause of the fire will be released at a later date.
U-Haul customers who may have been affected by the fire are currently receiving notifications from the company with information on who to contact for more information.
Text messages sent to customers read: “U-Haul Moving & Storage Of Beckley RE: Unit # XXXXXXX: A fire at this facility may have affected your storage unit. We will contact you when the facility is safe for access to inspect. Please do NOT come to the facility until we contact you.”
