Man, you wouldn’t believe the stuff people try to stash in a storage unit.
I’m not talking about the weird stuff—like the guy who had twelve mannequins all dressed like Elvis. I’m talking about the dangerous stuff. The “I-think-my-insurance-will-cover-it-so-who-cares” stuff.
My uncle ran a storage place out near the old highway for twenty years. I worked summers there. One July, it was so hot the tar on the roof would bubble. We got a call from the alarm company at 2 a.m. A heat sensor went off in C-block.
We raced over. The fire department was already there, but there wasn’t a flame to be seen. Just smoke pouring out of the vents of unit C-7. They pried the door open, and this wave of heat and chemical stink hit us. Inside was what was left of a “small business.” A guy was running an eBay store out of his unit, which is against the rules, but that’s not the point. He had pallets of those cheap lithium-ion battery packs for phones. The no-name kind. A whole pallet of them, still in their flimsy retail boxes, had decided to have a thermal runaway party in the 110-degree heat of that metal box.
They didn’t explode. They just cooked. For hours. It ruined everything in the six units around it from the heat and the toxic smoke. The guy lost everything. His “business,” and all his neighbors’ stuff. The insurance fight was ugly. My uncle almost lost the whole place over the lawsuits.
So when you ask about fire risks, I don’t think of checklists. I think of that smell. I think of Mrs. Gable in C-8 crying over her water-damaged photo albums that the firefighters had to soak to be sure. All because the guy next door wanted to save three bucks on a battery charger.
Here’s the truth no one wants to say: a storage facility is a giant building full of people’s most flammable possessions, left totally unattended. It’s a firefighter’s nightmare. The only thing stopping it from being a tinderbox is the rules. And people following them.
Let’s get real about what that means for you.
Your Garage Clean-Out is a Hazard Waiting to Happen
First, your garage clean-out is probably a hazard.
You know that can of gasoline for the snowblower? The leftover charcoal lighter fluid? The big bottle of rubbing alcohol from pandemic times? Your brain says, “Get it out of the house.” Do not put it in storage. I am begging you. Take it to the hazardous waste drop-off. It costs like five bucks. Just get rid of it. In your house, if it leaks, you smell it. In a sealed unit next to my grandma’s antique wardrobe, it just makes a silent, flammable vapor cloud until something sparks.
Why Being a “Good Packer” is a Safety Skill
Second, you are not a professional packer.
And that’s fine! But know this: how you stack things matters. If you jam-pack a unit floor to ceiling, wall to wall, you’re not just making it hard to find your ski boots. You’re creating a perfect, airless fuel load. If a fire starts in there, it has nowhere to go but out—into your neighbor’s unit. Leave a gap. Leave a walkway. Let the air move. It’s not just for you; it’s for everyone.
And for God’s sake, stop using cardboard boxes from the liquor store. They’re free for a reason. They’re terrible. They’re bug buffets and they might as well be made of matchsticks. Go to Target. Buy the blue plastic bins. They’re a barrier. They stack better. You can see what’s in them. Just do it.
What We Do at Our Place: It’s Called Paranoia
What we do (and don’t do) over at our place.
At Storage One Hubert, we’re not the fanciest. But we are paranoid. My uncle’s lesson stuck with me.
We don’t just have smoke alarms. We have heat sensors in every single unit. The cheap ones that go off at 135 degrees. Because by the time smoke is pouring out, it’s often too late for the stuff next door.
We walk the lot. Not just a drive. We walk. We sniff. You can smell trouble—oil, chemicals, mildew. If a door is warped or the seal looks bad, we fix it. Heat gets in.
And we will absolutely knock on your door while you’re loading and ask what’s in that jerry can. We’ll get called names. We’ll lose a rental now and then. I don’t care. I’d rather lose a customer than lose the whole building because someone thought the rules didn’t apply to their “special” situation.
It’s Not About Rules, It’s About Respect
This isn’t about rules for rules’ sake. It’s about respect. You’re putting your stuff in a building full of other people’s lives. Their baby clothes. Their military uniforms. The inventory for their struggling small business.
When you roll up that door, you’re making a promise to them. A promise that you won’t be the reason they lose everything.
So be that person. Be the overly-cautious one. When in doubt, leave it out. Ask us if you’re not sure. We’d rather answer a dumb question than a 911 call.
If you want a place that’s run by people who are this serious about safety, come talk to us at Storage One Hubert. We’ll show you around. We’ll point out the fire hydrant locations. We’ll probably bore you with details. But you’ll sleep better knowing your neighbor isn’t storing a pallet of fireworks next to your wedding dress.
That’s it. That’s the speech. Now go buy some plastic bins.
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