Fire guts plastics company
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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