Firefighters tackle huge warehouse blaze

Firefighters spent hours tackling a blaze at a storage unit on a busy road.

Shurgard storage space in Purley Way, Croydon, caught fire on the evening of New Year’s Eve and was not under control well into the night.

More than 20 crews and 150 firefighters were on the scene at the height of the blaze – and the possessions of more than 1,000 clients were ruined in the flames.

A Shurgard spokesperson said: “The care for its customers of the 1,198 rented units at the Croydon Purley Way store is the first priority for Shurgard, which makes up almost 89 per cent of the total units in the property.

“The entire building has been destroyed. Damage to the surrounding area seems to be limited, but for safety reasons traffic has been blocked for the time being.

“Shurgard will undertake every effort to support all customers for which the event means a loss of their stored goods. We will be contacting every customer of the store to help them and support them with their claim procedures.”

London Fire Brigade are investigating the source and cause of the fire. Assistant Commissioner Graham Ellis who was at the scene said: “A large amount of fire loading inside the property has made it a very challenging incident.

“Self-storage units are generally full of items like furniture which when packed tightly provide a lot of materials to burn and so these sorts of incidents tend to create large fires that burn hard for a long time creating a lot of smoke.

“Self-storage units are technically very difficult fires to manage as well as the fire loading, it’s difficult to know what is being stored.”

The A23 on Purley Way were closed between Drake Road and Beddington Farm while firefighters tackled the blaze.