Customers affected by I-680/Hwy. 4 interchange mini storage fire still being notified

Management said at least 40 units were affected in the grass fire late Tuesday.

CLICK HERE if you are having a problem viewing the photos or videos on a mobile device

PACHECO — The majority of customers whose storage units were damaged or destroyed in a two-alarm grass fire that spread July 16 beside the Interstate 680 freeway to roughly 40 units at Pacheco Mini Storage were still being called and notified about the blaze Wednesday, a manager there said.

Kelly Van Schaik, who manages the units and has worked at the facility since 2013, greeted U-Haul truck drivers pulling into the storage depot, which doubles as rental pick-up and drop-off hub for the moving vehicles, to let them know the business would be closed today. Investigators were still determining the cause of the fire, which Van Schaik estimated affected between 40 and 50 of the depot’s 500 to 600 total units.

Firefighters rushed around 2:43 pm. to contain the fire, which began along the freeway at the junction of Interstate 680 and state Highway 4, Contra Costa County Fire Protection District spokesman Steve Hill said. Van Schaik told this news organization she called 911 twice as the fire raged, the second time to advise crews to extinguish the flames damaging units and not just the grass beside the highway.