Prineville storage units fire rekindles the next day

(Update, clarifying that fire apparently rekindled)

A fire that broke out early Friday morning at a northwest Prineville storage unit business apparently rekindled late Saturday afternoon, putting up more black smoke, and Oregon State Police and the state fire investigators were called in to help look for the cause, authorities said.

The initial smoky fire was reported early Friday morning and tore through about 20 storage units at Goodman Storage, a business on Northwest Lamonta Road, said Crook County Fire and Rescue Chief Matt Smith.

Crews were dispatched at 6:42 a.m. Friday to the report of a storage unit. They arrived to find a complete building of storage units, totaling about 20, on fire, Smith said.

A total of 20 firefighters, using three engines and several support vehicles, worked for several hours to put out the fire and salvage what property they could, the fire chief said.

Late Saturday afternoon, crews returned to put out a fire in the same storage building, Smith said.

The cause of the fire remained unknown, Smith said Saturday night. He said his agency was being assisted in the investigation by Oregon State Police and the State Fire Marshal’s Office.