A major fire tore through a one-story chrome-plating facility in Hollywood on Sunday morning, prompting more than 100 firefighters to respond and a chemical cleanup effort that is expected to last at least two days, fire officials said.
One firefighter became ill while battling the 8:58 a.m. blaze at Highland Plating Company at 1001 N. Orange Drive and was taken to the hospital in good condition, Los Angeles Fire Department spokeswoman Katherine Main said. More than 19 fire companies extinguished the blaze in just more two hours. Any time more than 16 fire companies respond to a fire the incident is considered a major emergency, she said.
“When the fire companies got on scene, there was a huge plume of smoke seen from miles away,” Main said. “Heavy black smoke and fire were billowing from the room...Firefighters made an aggressive interior attack and within seven minutes, they were driven out and transferred into a defensive posture and fought the fire from the outside because of the quantity of the fire and dangerous conditions surrounding the amount of heavy fire.”
While battling the blaze, firefighters built a series of dams with the assistance of city employees to contain the chemical runoff and reduce contamination, Main said. A number of agencies, including the South Coast Air Quality Management District, Los Angeles County Health HAZMAT, and L.A. County Watershed Management, are evaluating the environmental impact of the chemical runoff while private companies will do the cleanup, she said.
Runoff was limited due to firefighting efforts and techniques and there was none outside a two-block perimeter of the building in this industrial zone, said LAFD Battalion Chief Jaime Lesinski, the department’s HAZMAT coordinator.
There were no evacuations during the fire and there were no contaminants identified in the smoke, Main said.
The fire, which caused a partial roof collapse, was confined to the building of origin and most of the building was a loss though they did salvage offices there, she said. No damage estimate and no dollar loss was immediately available on Sunday.
Firefighters clothing, as well as fire fighting equipment, had to be decontaminated with soap and water because of the oxidizers and acids in the runoff, which can be a health hazard, officials said.