1,000 Flee Toxic Smoke From Fire Near Coachella

Toxic smoke drove at least 1,000 residents of nearby Thermal from their homes today after fire enveloped a warehouse containing an estimated 25 tons of pesticides and fertilizers.

Three firemen were injured and at least 50 civilians were treated with oxygen at Red Cross shelters for nausea, cramps and breathing difficulties.

It was the second time in four days that Southland residents were forced to evacuate their homes because of a pesticide warehouse fire. On Tuesday, an estimated 10,000 Orange County residents returned to their homes after being forced out by an Anaheim warehouse fire that was detected Saturday.

Warehouse Gutted

The warehouse in Thermal was gutted. By noon, a heavy plume of smoke, dark at the base and yellowish-white at the top, rose hundreds of feet straight up from the site.

A Riverside County Fire Department spokesman said that because water reacts dangerously with some of the chemicals, releasing poisonous fumes, the blaze in the Wilbur-Ellis Chemical Co. warehouse was being allowed to burn itself out.

Fire Information Officer Dana Jones said there was no indication of how long the fire might burn. Cause of the blaze was unknown. The warehouse is on California 111 at 52nd Avenue on the edge of Coachella.

Earlier in the day, he said, smoke was blowing south-southwest, away from Coachella and more heavily populated areas of the agricultural valley. Later, he said, the wind fell off to virtually nothing, and smoke rose vertically.

But Jones warned that thousands more would have to be evacuated if there were a sudden upsurge and shift in wind direction.

Jones said the 60-by-100-foot warehouse contained 500 gallons of parathion, 500 gallons of paraquat, 600 gallons of gasoline and unknown quantities of methyl bromide in tanks, and diazanine, corbine 8 and sodium nitrate. All told, he said, there was at least 25 tons of material in the warehouse.

200 Chemicals Stored

Another source said at least 200 chemicals were stored in the warehouse.

Parathion and malathion are nerve gases, lethal in heavy concentrations, that cause flu-like symptoms with lesser exposures, according to Keith Maddy, a state Department of Agriculture safety officer. Methyl bromide, stored in pressurized containers, can be “very dangerous,” causing permanent nerve damage to those exposed to it.

Jones said six square miles of comparatively sparsely populated area in outlying Thermal were evacuated.