Five-Alarm Fire Guts Chemical Supply Facility, Injures 3

Three people, including two firefighters, were injured during a chemical fire Friday afternoon at an American Chemical & Sanitary Inc. facility in Anaheim, CA, gutting the building as the blaze raged for four hours.

“We fought the fire for several hours. There’s still active flames going on inside the building now,” Anaheim public safety spokesperson Sgt. Daron Wyatt told local ABC News affiliate KABC. “There are trailers literally stacked wall-to-wall with toilet paper and paper towels.”

The facility produces chemical products for cleaning and provides other janitorial supplies. Those injured were said to have received only minor injuries. A female employee injured an ankle as she fled the building, a firefighter was hurt by an electric shock, and another firefighter suffered from heat exhaustion.

“I saw the flames inside with the doors open, and then all the sudden the roof collapsed and this big ball of flame came up. I knew it was gone, there’s no way anybody was gonna turn that off,” a witness, Pedro Veronese, told a Los Angeles-based CBS News affiliate.

About 16 employees were working at the facility at the time the fire broke out. Some neighboring structures were evacuated.

Officials told various news organizations that the chemical involved in the blaze and the exact cause of the incident are unknown.

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