Fire damages Ephrata storage

Cause under investigation

EPHRATA - A mini-storage building in Ephrata burned Sunday night and appears to have been about 80 percent destroyed, said the business' owner Ron Yenney.

Investigators were at the fire scene Monday at Yenney Mini Storage on A St. N.E. trying to determine the cause of the fire.

"There's no material to sift through, (we're) not sure if we'll be able to discover what caused it, but we'll give it a try," said Kyle Foreman, battalion chief of the Ephrata Fire Department.

There's no electricity to the building, he said.

Investigators will speak to the renters to learn if they've visited the facility recently, he said.

The Ephrata Fire Department and Grant County Fire District No. 13 responded to the fire about 8:31 p.m. Sunday.

A single-story storage building was ablaze and flames could be seen coming from three rental units, according to the Ephrata Fire Department. Seven other units were damaged by smoke.

The damaged building is 100-feet by 10-feet and appears to be the largest in a complex of about six or seven buildings, Foreman said.

The building is insured, according to Foreman.

The damage will probably affect about 30 customers, Yenney said.

He's waiting until the investigation is complete before notifying the affected customers, he said.

Yenney said the fire must have been hot because it melted the steel support beams inside the steel building.

No injuries were reported from the blaze and the fire didn't spread.

The fire was extinguished quickly and firefighters stayed at the storage building until about 10 p.m. putting out hot spots, according to Foreman.