Four firefighters were injured from a massive 3-alarm fire on Sept. 30 at an industrial complex in Carson, California.
According to the Los Angeles County Fire Department (LAFD), the fire started at around 2 p.m. on Thursday, and approximately 200 firefighters were assigned to the site, with 12 additional fire engines and 5 paramedic squads on the scene supporting the firefighters.
“As of right now, we have four injuries to report, all minor injuries. Two of those injuries were transported to local hospitals but again, all the injuries were minor. All those individuals are in stable condition. Two of them actually went right back to work after being checked out by our medical personnel on scene,” LAFD spokesman Jonathan Matheny told The Epoch Times, adding that the entire firefighting crew belonged to LAFD.
The official cause of the fire is still under investigation, officials said.
Matheny explained that the burning building is a distribution facility that was full of palletized cardboard boxes and highly flammable alcohol wipes and that there are laws in place to help prevent and abate fires in commercial structures. Commercial buildings are regularly inspected by fire department personnel as well as Fire Prevention Bureau.
At around 6 p.m. on Sept. 30, LAFD posted on Twitter: “Despite significant winds and a heavy fire load, consisting of palletized cardboard boxes (including highly flammable alcohol wipes), firefighters were able to prevent significant damage to 11 surrounding businesses, which were threatened by intense flames.”
The firefighters stayed overnight at the facility monitoring the active fire, Matheny explained. There was still active fire as of Oct. 1 and the firefighters were expected to stay until Friday evening to put out all the hot spots.
Some of the residents from the mobile home park nearby voluntarily evacuated due to an electricity outage. Matheny clarified that the electricity in the surrounding neighborhoods had to be cut for firefighters to safely do their job without electrical interference. Matheny added that the electricity was expected to be restored on Oct. 1.
After aggressively attacking this fire for hours, firefighters have made significant progress and were able to prevent damage to 11 surrounding businesses which were threatened by flames.
Los Angeles County Supervisor Holly Mitchell, who is representing the second district—including Carson—posted on Twitter at 5 p.m. Thursday that her office was in contact with the Los Angeles County Fire Department and confirmed that the fire was already under control. She also urged the nearby residents to stay indoors and close their windows.
On the same day, another large fire occurred in El Sereno and approximately 146 firefighters were on scene extinguishing the fire.
