Forty storage units were destroyed after the Pasco Fire Rescue responded to Extra Space Storage in Holiday, 3118 US 19.
Pasco Fire Rescue got the call at 1:30 a.m. Monday and responded five minutes later. They got the fire under control but are concerned that the walls will collapse.
The fire was a two alarm fire. 19 units responded and no firefighters were injured.
Deputies arrested 18-year-old Clyde Turner for second degree arson of the Extra Space Storage business in Holiday. According to the arrest affidavit, Turner scaled the facility wall, which led him onto a storage unit roof, where he blocked the surveillance video and climbed down.
He then pryed the storage unit open with a claw hammer. He doused the items in the storage unit and set it on fire with a cigarette lighter. A minor explosion caused him to suffer minor burns to his hand and clothes.
Police say he fled the property in his car, which was parked nearby, with his gasoline container and hammer.
The storage unit is believed to be his mother’s ex-boyfreind’s.
