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Fire guts plastics company

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Elise Gee

COSTA MESA -- As hazardous material teams sopped up the waste left from a

multi-alarm fire that sent a plume of black toxic smoke into the sky

Thursday, stunned employees from Newport Plastics Inc. wondered how they

would endure the holidays without their jobs.

It took firefighters 90 minutes to extinguish the 6:08 a.m. fire that

gutted and warped the building at 3198 Airport Loop Drive. Building owner

Bruce Hill estimated his losses at $2.5 million, said Capt. Paul Hunter

of the Orange County Fire Authority.

The blaze, which was still under investigation Thursday afternoon, also

disrupted dozens of adjacent businesses after firefighters and police

evacuated employees to protect them from the toxic smoke.

The thick black cloud, which could be seen for miles, also slowed

distracted morning commuters, but not enough to cause SigAlerts or reduce

visibility on any freeways, said California Highway Patrol Officer

Katrina Lundgren.

Flights at adjacent John Wayne Airport arrived and departed on time. The

smoke from the fire was blown in the opposite direction of the airstrip

and caused no delays, said Nghia Nguyen, airport spokeswoman.

The evacuation also went smoothly, although employees of one business

locked themselves inside their building and refused to come out, said

Keith Fujimoto, Costa Mesa battalion chief. An hour after other

businesses had been evacuated, the employees finally came out, saying

they didn’t know what was going on, Fujimoto said.

Other workers lingered on grassy areas outside the complex, talking on

cellular phones and awaiting word for when they could return.

Bill Carr, an employee of Impact Technologies, decided to make use of his

time.

“I’ll wait ‘til the mall opens and get some Christmas shopping done,” he

said.

Although no one was injured in the fire, the blaze did take a human toll.

Pilar Ramirez has made plastic bottle caps, toys, Frisbees and cosmetics

containers at the small plant for four years. She milled about most of

the morning with other teary-eyed employees who were unsure of their

futures.

“I don’t know what to do,” said Ramirez, who is the sole breadwinner in

her family.

Other employees, such as plant manager Michael Williams, mourned the loss

of company pet Cheeto, a dog Williams had given to Hill after it outgrew

Williams’ family home. Cheeto, who lived in the 8,000-square-foot plant,

died in the fire.

Hill, 76, a diabetic, was shaky after the fire and needed help getting to

his feet after taking a rest on the grass nearby.

Williams said his day started out just like any other. He arrived at the

plant at 5:30 a.m. to turn on the heaters that warm up the company’s

plastic injection mold machines as he does every morning. He then

returned to his home less than two miles away to shower and eat

breakfast.

At 6:30 a.m., he received a call from his brother, who saw the building

on fire while he was watching the morning news. Williams bolted out the

door and was back at the plant within five minutes.

“I thought ‘How could that be?”’ Williams said. “I was just there an hour

ago. How can this massive fire be here.”

When Williams arrived, he saw bright orange flames, twice the size of the

building, licking at the sky.

It took nearly 40 firefighters from the Costa Mesa, Newport Beach, Santa

Ana and Orange County fire departments to extinguish the fire, said

Barbara Marcosa, spokesperson for the Costa Mesa Fire Department.

Investigators probably won’t know the cause of the fire for two days,

Hunter said.

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