Residents in South El Monte were ordered to shelter in place for roughly five hours Wednesday as more than 100 firefighters battled a massive blaze at a warehouse complex that sent a dark plume of smoke into the air and emitted an acrid chemical smell.
Fire crews responded at 2:32 p.m. to the 2200 block of North Tyler Avenue, where two adjacent concrete warehouse buildings were on fire, according to L.A. County Fire Department spokesperson Keith Navarre.
A total of 112 fire personnel were sent to the incident, where they assumed a defensive position, surrounding the building with water spraying apparatuses, he said.
Investigators have not determined what caused the fire.
Several explosions occurred inside a building while crews were at the scene, the cause of which was not immediately clear, Navarre said. Helicopter video from ABC7 captured sparks and smoke shooting into the air as the blasts rattled the buildings.
Hazardous materials and urban search and rescue teams also responded to the scene, Navarre said. Officials said metals were burning inside the warehouses, but did not specify what type of objects were on fire.
“It’s going to be an incident that goes throughout the night because of the materials involved,” Navarre said. “We have heavy equipment here that’s going to help us break down the building and continue to put the fires out.”
A shelter in place order was issued for residents in the immediate area of South El Monte around 4:40 p.m. and then expanded to include more nearby streets and part of Baldwin Hills.
Residents were instructed to shut doors and windows, turn off heating and ventilation systems, and stay indoors. By 6 p.m. the smoke had diminished, but orders remained in place “out of an abundance of caution,” Navarre said. The order was lifted at 10 p.m., but fire crews remained at the scene working to extinguish the blaze.
