Woman loses ‘30 years of life’ in self-storage warehouse fire

 A woman who gave up her home after being made redundant has lost all her possessions in a fire at a self-storage warehouse.

Marianna Georgiou, 51, was one of hundreds of customers whose belongings were destroyed in the blaze in Croydon, south London.

She said she had been left with just one set of clothes and her car.

Ms Georgiou added that she put her possessions in storage when she moved in with her daughter temporarily after losing her job in retail.

She said: “I cannot believe it. Thirty years of my whole life have gone in an instant.”

“I got made redundant last year so I gave up my home so I put everything in storage. It’s the memories and the sentimental things that you cannot replace.”

Shurgard, which runs the self-storage facility on Purley Way in Croydon, said it would contact all customers in the next two days, but added that it was “highly unlikely” any items would be saved.

The fire took hold at around 7.45pm on Monday, with up to 120 firefighters working to extinguish the blaze. The cause has yet to be confirmed.

Nobody was injured, police said, although the four-storey building has been extensively damaged.

Graham Ellis, assistant commissioner of the London Fire Brigade, described the blaze as “very challenging”.

He said: “Self-storage units are generally full of items like furniture which when packed tightly provide a lot of materials to burn. These sorts of incidents tend to create large fires that burn hard for a long time.”