Early-morning commercial storage unit fire at 1320 E Altamonte Dr, Seminole County

An early-morning fire at a commercial storage unit located at 1320 E Altamonte Dr in Seminole County was quickly contained, and no injuries were reported, officials said. The blaze, which occurred early morning Feb. 15, 2026, prompted a precautionary evacuation of a neighboring pet daycare that sent one worker, four dogs and one cat to safety.

The original incident report lists the cause as under investigation and describes it as "likely electrical." Fire crews achieved rapid containment and there were no recorded firefighter or civilian injuries at the scene. The report did not specify the square footage of the storage unit or a dollar estimate of losses.

Responders evacuated the adjacent pet care business as a precaution; the report notes the evacuees as one worker, four dogs and one cat and confirms their safety. Dispatch and on-scene commanders did not report any structural collapse, BLEVE, LPG involvement, or hazardous-material release in the immediate aftermath of knockdown.

Seminole Fire Rescue holds statutory authority under NFPA 1-4.10 to investigate fires, explosions and other hazardous conditions, and the City of Seminole maintains a contract with Pinellas County to provide fire investigations on some unincorporated lands within the district. The Fire Marshal’s Office inspects approximately 2,400 commercial and multi-family residential occupancies within the Seminole Fire District, and the office reports that non-compliant businesses requiring re-inspection add 25 percent to its inspection workload. Fire investigators typically respond to fires of a suspicious nature, fires involving death or injury, fires with significant value loss, or when requested by the district chief on duty. For fire inspection requests the Fire Marshal’s Office lists a hotline at (727) 393-8711 Ext. 213.

County public safety officials have been highlighting lithium-ion battery hazards in recent local incidents, noting multiple residential and commercial structure fires tied to batteries charged with homemade chargers, damaged cells or improper charging. Hammerl warned about toxic combustion byproducts, saying, "We want to keep everyone away from it, we don’t want to be touching it directly with our gear, the toxins that come out of that smoke, we have hydrogen fluoride, cyanide — things that people make atom bombs and stuff with is what is realized from these things when they burn." Hammerl also advised, "Make sure you buy and use the right charger for that device."

On handling recovered batteries, England explained containment steps used by county crews: "What we want to do is isolate the battery’s components from other batteries, so what we do is place them in these plastic bags, and then from this, we can store them and ship them to our third‑party company." Seminole County transfer stations will accept certain batteries free of charge, county guidance states.

A Seminole County Incident Management System document dated January 1, 2017, outlines hazards responders must consider at storage-room and structure fires, including "Boiling liquid expanding vapor explosion (BLEVE) of containers in a garage, storage room, or other unconventional area and Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG) cylinder hazards," as well as risks from downed power lines, partial structural collapse, fall-through hazards and dangerous animals. The document also reiterates the procedural line that "5,000 square feet will be treated as a commercial fire."

Investigators will determine the final cause and any follow-up enforcement or inspection needs under the Fire Marshal’s authority; the office’s inspection hotline remains (727) 393-8711 Ext. 213 for businesses seeking inspections or to report concerns.