Officials ID Kansas man who died when storage unit he was living in caught fire
A man who died Tuesday after a storage unit building caught fire has been identified as Bret Fallis of Hutchinson.
Fallis, 64, appeared to be living in a unit at the building, the Hutchinson Fire Department said Wednesday in a social media post.
Investigators say the fire originated from the unit Fallis was living in and was caused by “improper discard of smoking materials igniting combustible materials in the storage unit,” the department said.
Firefighters were called shortly after 8 a.m. to a commercial structure fire at 4th Street and Bonebrake in the eastern part of the city. Hutch police were already there and reported seeing smoke coming from the building.
One of the eight storage facilities was filled with smoke, and fire crews cut locks and doors to enter several compartments of the storage unit. While putting out the fire, firefighters found one person dead inside a unit, the fire department said Tuesday.
The coroner’s office is still working to learn his exact cause of death.
Some of the storage units sustained moderate damage, while others had smoke damage.
This story was originally published May 20, 2025 at 12:12 PM.