Hundreds without power for hours as AFD crews battle warehouse fire overnight

AUSTIN, Texas - A North Austin warehouse is a total loss after a massive fire overnight. 

The blaze also cut off power for hundreds of Austin Energy customers as outside temperatures plummeted. 

By the numbers:

Austin Fire says 75 percent of the building was on fire. Windy conditions made it worse. 

It took 80 firefighters and four hours to put it out. 

Crews had to cut power for about 400 people for those four hours. A few neighbors right by the building were evacuated. 

AFD says no injuries have been reported. The cause of the fire has been ruled accidental as a space heater was too close to combustibles.

APD has estimated damages at $500,000 for the structure and $1 million for damages to the contents.

What they're saying:

"That's a long time to be fighting a fire, that has to do with the chemicals that were inside of the building, how hot and how much the fire had already been burning and how much of the building had been burnt," Rachael Lewis, operations PIO with Austin Fire said. 

"We had flames impinging on the lines," Lewis said.

"We want to make sure that anything that could be a safety hazard or an impediment to extinguishing that fire is out of the way," Matt Mitchell with Austin Energy said.

Local perspective:

Ally Honeycutt says she lost power around 11:30 p.m. It came back around 3:30 a.m.

"I was a little concerned because I knew the cold was coming," she said. "It was relatively chilly, but I was not outside, so I just looked through the windows."

What you can do:

Austin Energy says outages can happen for many reasons, ranging from equipment issues to drivers crashing into power poles. Check here for outages.

How should you safely stay warm if you lose power?

"When you don't have power, we're thinking layers. We're thinking blankets, many sweaters, any extra clothing that you have and also to use that extra clothing to block any drafts that could be inside of your home," Lewis said.

You can move around a bit to get your blood flowing.

Don't use propane heaters inside.

"We do not use those inside of the home just for the risk of any gases that it could emit for the fire risk, as well as any combustible materials that happen to be around them," Lewis said.

Have supplies ready and know where you can go, like a warming center, if you're too cold. 

"Have all of your devices charged, have a flashlight handy just in case you need it and have any hot water available and hot water packets," Lewis said.

"It's crucially important that you have a plan that you know where you can go to get warm and stay warm if you need to in the event of an outage," Mitchell said.