Residents in South El Monte were ordered to shelter in place Wednesday afternoon as more than 100 firefighters worked to battle 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 to the 2200 block of North Tyler Avenue at 2:32 p.m. where two adjacent concrete warehouse style 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.
Several explosions occurred inside the building while crews were on scene, the cause of which was not immediately clear, he 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, he 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 . An updated map of areas of impacted by the order is available at protect.genasys.com.
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.
Investigators have not determined what caused the fire.
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