More than 120 firefighters responded to a three-alarm blaze at a storage facility in Manassas late Sunday night.
The fire started at the Stor-All Storage facility in the 7900 block of Sudley Road.
Eighty-five units were heavily damaged or destroyed, according to the Fire Marshal's Office. The contents of most are a complete loss, reports News4's Megan McGrath.
Authorities believe the fire began in the middle of the building, and then spread to each side. Because of the nature of storage units, it was a difficult fire to put out, with 140 firefighters needed to extinguish the blaze.
The storage units "were filled with stuff, and they're all self-secured... so they have individual locks," said a firefighter. Firefighters had to break down many of the doors.
A backhoe was brought in to clear the units of debris. As the sun rose, it became eaiser to see the extent of the damage. Worried customers trickled in to see if their units were among those damaged.
One man was in the process of moving, and he said he lost everything he had in the blaze.
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"It's the memories, all the pictures, everything I got, memories of my kids -- nothing you can replace," he said.
An estimate for the damage has not been released yet. Prince William County officials are investigating the cause of the blaze.
