Today, a U-Haul truck containing about 600 pounds of chlorine powder was on fire at the 2200 block of East Willow Street in Signal Hill, the Los Angeles County Fire Department (LAFD) reported.
“Arriving companies found some light smoke coming from a U-Haul truck. As we were making entry in there, the owner of the truck and the products inside came running out, advises that there was chlorine inside,” said Sean Ferguson, an inspector for LAFD.
The fire department then initiated a hazmat response.
The surrounding area was closed off. An adjacent Costco store was evacuated “out of an abundance of caution,” according to the department. No injuries have been reported.
The gas station also controlled by Costco was closed as well and a shipment of fuel was delayed due to the fire.
“I have a truck with 8800 gallons of fuel,” truck driver Jose Yepez said. “So now we have to figure out where we’re going to deliver that fuel.”
Signal Hill police told residents to stay out of the area and shelter in place between Cherry Avenue to 28th Street to Temple Avenue. Police and fire personnel were at the scene.
“If you are sheltering in place inside the evacuation area, turn your air conditioning units off to avoid circulating the air and to prevent exposure,” said Signal Hill Police Lieutenant Kelli Crigler.
LAFD units were dispatched to the scene around 1:33 p.m., according to a department spokesperson.
“Now that we have achieved knockdown of the fire, we continue to monitor the surrounding air and subsequent water run-off,” the fire department reported in a tweet around 4:30 p.m. which noted that no harmful levels were detected.
Ferguson confirmed that air quality and water runoff were monitored throughout the process, and all recorded levels were safe.
White smoke at the scene was the result of packaging materials in the vehicle burning only, the department reported.
“It potentially could have become a much more dangerous situation had it not been handled correctly,” Ferguson said, “and that is because when you talk about fire mixing with chlorine mixing with water, it could potentially create harmful chlorine gas—which is what we did not want to see here.”
Ferguson said that the cause of the fire was unknown.
The area will be closed down for the next several hours, according to Ferguson.
Update: Friday, July 16, 6 p.m.: This story was updated to include quotes from a Los Angeles Fire Department inspector and a truck driver whose fuel shipment was delayed due to the fire. City News Service contributed to this report.
