FLORENCE — A baseball autographed by the entire 1975 Reds World Series team. Family photographs of his dead father. And some of his mother's belongings.

        That's just a partial inventory of the items lost by one man in a blaze that engulfed a building in a self-storage complex at 11:30 p.m. Tuesday. The building was one of about a dozen at Public Storage at 7866 Tanners Lane, an access road that runs parallel to Interstate 75 near Florence Mall.

        No one was injured and investigators said Wednesday they had not determined the fire's cause.

        “There were a lot of important family pictures my 4-year-old daughter will not get to see when she grows up,” said Mike Hermes, 38, of Taylor Mill, the owner of the baseball. “It is the sentimental things I'm upset about losing. You have the memories in your heart, but you like to have a picture to look at sometimes.”

        The Florence Fire Department was still on the scene at noon on Wednesday, more than 12 hours after the first report of the fire. The damage was contained to a 200-foot-long concrete and metal building of 52 units. Thirty-nine of those units were leased.

        “We are investigating the fire,” said Major Jack Banks, spokesman for the Boone County Sheriff's Department. “It is undetermined thus far. They are going over some electrical possibilities today. We anticipate the investigation to go on for some time.”

        “Everything I owned was in storage. Everything ... the contents of three bedrooms, a finished basement, even my dishwasher.” said Mr. Hermes. “I'm trying to salvage pictures. That is about all that's left.”

        The union stagehand recently moved from a three-bedroom home in Taylor Mill to his mother's home in Finneytown.

        In addition to the '75 autographed baseball, Mr. Hermes lost a baseball signed by the Reds' 1961 team, when the team, under Manager Fred Hutchinson, won the National League pennant. Mr. Hermes said his father got the autographs from contacts he developed as a television cameraman.

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