Hillsboro Fire Explained - Your Questions Answered

Secure Storage is a company founded and sustained through our utmost commitment to protect your belongings, after all, “secure” is in our name! An unfortunate fact of life is that the unexpected can happen at anytime, and it did for us. We owe it to our customers and our community to explain the circumstances of the fire that occurred on August 22, 2018.

What Happened?

When an accidental fire broke out at our facility in Hillsboro, damage was caused to a number of our storage units, no-one was injured. We are truly grateful to the Hillsboro Fire Department for their rapid response and efficiency, putting out the burn in about 20 minutes.

How Did It Start?

The cause of the fire was reported to be a faulty automobile fuse panel that shorted out while a customer was using a portable air compressor to add air to his tires. Once the smoke inside the vehicle was noticed by the customer, he ran to the office to seek assistance to extinguish the fire. In an urgent response, the customer failed to recognize the location of two fire extinguishers on the way to the office.

Secure Storage’s Fire Protection

Because of the ingenious design of our storage units, utilizing concrete block walls and steal roofs and partitions, the resulting fire burned upwards instead of outwards, limiting the damage to only 18 units. This was an unfortunate loss for these customers. Fortunately, all the units adjacent to the fire as well as the neighboring storage buildings were untouched.

The Outcome

This event is an excellent reminder that we should always take steps to prevent mishaps and be safe. In the unlikely case that we should have an emergency, we should all be prepared to respond. Training in basic emergency preparedness equips people with tools to avoid serious injury, property damage or possibly loss of life. Fires are rare but continue to be a threat in our daily lives. Challenge yourselves to become aware of safety equipment such fire extinguishers in the stores, apartment complexes and the work places you visit and learn how to use them. We recognize that a quicker response to a small fire on our storage property may have resulted in preventing a larger fire. This is why we have voluntarily added 15 more well marked fire extinguishers throughout our facility as well as an accessible AED near the front office.

Secure Storage remains true to our promise of security. We utilize the best safety measures to keep true to our name. Our proud commitment to this promise has allowed us to limit any major incident such as a fire to only one time in since opening, 30 years ago.

If you have questions or concerns please reach out to our Hillsboro office at (503) 693-6844 or contact us online.