Update 8/8/17 – Apperson Self Storage is allowing tenants to retrieve items from the units that were damaged in last week’s fire. Tenants will be permitted to the enter the units today at their own risk between 4:30 and 7 p.m. Security and staff members from Pinnacle Realty LLC, which manages the property, will be on site during this time, according to the source.

The building has been deemed stable but still hazardous. Pinnacle plans to demolish the building within the next two weeks, the source reported.

Pinnacle President Tom Fiskus told the source in an e-mail that the company isn’t responsible for items lost in the fire. The facility’s rental agreement states the company doesn’t provide insurance for occupants’ property. The lease also requires customers to initial a paragraph demonstrating they understand their property isn’t insured, and customers-goods insurance was available to them through a third-party company for an additional charge.

In an e-mail to tenants on Aug. 2, Fiskus wrote, "We suggest to our customers the need to obtain customer-goods insurance and make it available for purchase; however, we do not require that our customers obtain this coverage. I always felt to dictate such a policy was unfair and onerous, as it mandated a higher expense to our customers. I felt that our customers should be allowed to make their own decisions."

8/4/17 – A fire at Apperson Self Storage in Salem, Va., on Monday evening caused an estimated $1.5 million in damage, according to fire officials. The blaze at 1910 Apperson Drive began just after 10 p.m. Several units were already engulfed when fire crews arrived just three minutes after the 911 call. It took about 50 firefighters to extinguish the inferno, which damaged more than 60 storage units and their contents, according to Salem Fire Chief John Prillaman.

No one was injured and the cause of the fire has been ruled undetermined by the fire marshal. Unless new information is brought forward, the investigation has been closed, the source reported.

Apperson Self Storage is a part of Virginia Self Storage, which operates six facilities in Chesapeake, Roanoke, Salem, Virginia Beach and Yorktown. Locally owned and operated, the company opened its first facility in 1994.

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