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Dozens Of Denton County Storage Units Go Up In Flames

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LAKE DALLAS (CBSDFW.COM) – Fire ripped through the Luxury Motor Coach and Boat Storage facility in Lake Dallas Thursday morning, destroying several units. Firefighters were able to contain the flames to one of the three buildings.

The building contained 38 storage units, many housing expensive boats and RVs. The units are designed to be fully enclosed and firefighters had to cut through the metal each unit to gain access and fight the fire.

"We had to be able to make access with saws and things to the metal structure that is built on to be able to make access to the fire," remarks Jody Gonzalez with Denton County Emergency Services.

 

Firefighters managed to get their equipment in past nearby construction, but that meant closing off roads to outgoing traffic which led to more problems even after the fire was under control.

Barbara Brown was just outside the police barricades, standing with her luggage after she gave up on driving out of her neighborhood. "I was driving to the airport, but I couldn't get through, so I had to call an Uber driver, cancel my flight, get another flight," she said.

Late in the day police reopened the roads for people to drive in and out of the neighborhood near the storage facility. Neighbors realize there are much bigger problems for those who lost boats and RVs in the fire.

One RV owner who didn't know about the fire, he said he and his wife had just parked it at the facility yesterday after a trip.

Smoke could be seen from miles around as the massive building and pricey contents burned.  As explosions kept coming, neighbors like Krystal Valentine worried her home could be next.

"I was pretty confident at first that it was contained until you start hearing things blowing up," says Valentine.

No one was hurt in the fire, but the damage to the building and renters' property will be considerable.

 (©2016 CBS Local Media, a division of CBS Radio Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)

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