A business owner watched on helplessly as flames ripped through a storage unit in Byfleet and destroyed her stock. Surrey Fire and Rescue Service crews were still battling the blaze at Access Self Storage on Friday (May 19), more than 12 hours since they were originally called to the commercial unit on Oyster Lane.
While smoke billowed into the sky, and could be seen by some as far as 10 miles away, the immediate damage to those watching on was devastating. Louise, the owner of an online Tombola business which she set up during lockdown, only found out about the blaze on Friday morning.
Speaking to SurreyLive from behind the police cordon, she said she had only moved her stock into the premises 18 months ago. She estimates she has lost between £20,000 to £25,000 from the fire with personal items belonging to staff there presumed destroyed as well.
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“All of our stuff is in there, which is basically confirmed destroyed,” she said. “They’re pretty much certain nothing is going to be saved from there. We’ve spent the last three years building this up, for it to . It feels really surreal standing here.
“We’ve relied on that building for well over 18 months and we just upgraded from a normal to a large size because we needed more space. We just don’t really know what to do, say, or think. We’re on the top floor so it’s going to be too unsafe, I think. It’s too early days to even think about what we’re going to do next. It’s just a nightmare.”
‘All those people have lost so much’
Many people living on Oyster Lane became aware of the fire on Thursday evening as police cars and fire engines parked up outside their doors. Linda has lived in the area for 50 years and said she discovered what had happened on social media.
“We realised something was happening last night,” she said. “This morning when I got up at 7.30am I couldn’t believe the smoke, it was so thick and black, I could smell it in the car park at Marks and Spencer. It’s a shame, it’s awful all those people have lost so much. People have come out to check if everything’s all right.”
Another person living next to the police cordon, Adam Bidwell, saw the fire last night. He said: “There were more flames this morning. At about 7am looking down the road, there were flames down the whole side of the building. Last night it was mostly thick, black smoke. There’s a Screwfix there which we used.”
Adam Smith, 84, said his Oyster Road home had been left without power since 7am. He added: “There was a police car outside. Next thing you know all the fire engines have arrived [last night].
“We’ve got a power cut at the moment so we’re waiting for the electricity to come back on. You can’t do anything can you?”
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