Fire-Caused Toxic Smoke Routs 2,000 in Coachella Valley

Toxic smoke drove about 2,000 people from homes and fields here and from nearby Thermal and Mecca on Wednesday, after fire enveloped a warehouse packed with 25 tons of chemical pesticides and fertilizers.

More than 130 people in the Riverside County communities were treated for nausea, cramps, eye irritation and respiratory ailments brought on by the noxious fumes.

The smoky chemical fire was described by an Orange County fire official as “a carbon copy” of the Anaheim blaze that forced 10,000 people out of their homes Sunday and Monday. All but a few of the Orange County residents had returned to their homes late Tuesday.

Anaheim fire officials said a “booby-trapped” car that was supposed to have caught fire points to arson as the cause of the blaze at the pesticide and fertilizer warehouse.

The latest fire broke out at 6:17 a.m. in Wilbur-Ellis Chemical Co. on the border of Coachella and Thermal, about four miles southeast of Indio.

A Riverside County Fire Department spokesman said that because water reacts dangerously with some of the 200 or so chemicals stored in the warehouse, the fire would be allowed to burn itself out.

Pillar of Smoke

In the early hours, the wind was blowing south-southwest, diverting the smoke away from Coachella and the more heavily populated areas of the rich agricultural valley. By noon, the wind had dropped off, and a pillar of smoke, dark at the base, yellowish gray at the top, billowed almost straight up for several hundred feet.

In midafternoon, the wind sprang up again and once more was blowing the chemically contaminated smoke and ash away from populated areas. Fire Information Officer Dana Jones said officials continued to monitor the wind closely, because a shift in the wrong direction could force evacuation of thousands more.

Jones said that as of late Wednesday, the blaze was only 13% contained but had burned itself down into a smoldering condition. He estimated that full containment might not be achieved until 2 p.m. today.

California 111 was closed from Coachella to the Imperial County line, about 20 miles away, as a precautionary measure. Summer school sessions at two schools were canceled.

The 60-by-100-foot warehouse where the pesticides were stored, located on 111 at 52nd Avenue, was gutted. Damage to the structure and contents was estimated at about $1.2 million.

The Southern Pacific’s main rail line to Los Angeles runs directly through the 13-square-mile evacuation area surrounding the fire scene, and all traffic on the line was halted. Southern Pacific trainmaster Del Green said, “We are out of business.”

He estimated losses of “several million dollars” because of delays and backups on the line.

A spokesman for the Riverside County agricultural commissioner said there were 600 acres of grapes within the evacuation area but it is too early to determine whether the crop has been contaminated or may rot because of delays in harvesting.

However, Richard Bagdasarian Inc. of Mecca, one of the biggest fruit-shipping firms in the valley, laid off 1,000 workers who were harvesting when the fire broke out. City officials estimated that as many as 3,000 more farm workers would be laid off, at least temporarily.

Cause of the fire was a mystery, although there were unconfirmed reports of explosions just before the flames erupted.

Warned by Loudspeakers

The evacuation began shortly thereafter when Coachella police drove through the area with loudspeakers, advising residents and field workers to leave. Not everyone complied willingly.

“A lot of people said, ‘Hell no, we won’t go,’ ” said Riverside County Sheriff’s Sgt. Steve Hadley, who reported that several simply stayed put.

Josie Hernandez, 35, who lives 1 1/2 miles from the warehouse, said she heard a sound “like a bomb exploding,” followed shortly thereafter by two smaller blasts. Then, she said, “thick black smoke” began to rise from the warehouse.

“The smell was horrible, like gasoline,” she said as she recovered at a Red Cross emergency center at Coachella Valley High School.

She said her terrified neighbor, Bertha Medina, 18, who is four months pregnant, ran across the street to join her and together they piled into a sedan with 12 other men and women to flee to the evacuation center.

Like many of the others at the center, Hernandez said she was suffering from nausea, eye irritation, dizziness and a severe headache.

Firefighter Injured

More than 700 people had checked into the Red Cross emergency center at the high school by late afternoon. As the center filled, others were directed to the Date Festival grounds in Indio. Still others forced out of the area apparently were staying with friends and relatives or in motels.

Coachella police doubted that any would be able to return to their homes overnight.

At least 117 people were treated by the Red Cross at the evacuation center. Seventeen others were treated and released at John F. Kennedy Memorial Hospital in Indio and three were admitted for observation.

Among the injured was Coachella Firefighter Gus Vallez, who suffered a minor neck injury fighting the blaze.

Jones said the warehouse contained 500 gallons of parathion, 500 gallons of paraquat, 600 gallons of gasoline and unknown quantities of methyl bromide, ammonium nitrate, sodium nitrate and other dangerous chemicals.

Parathion and malathion are lethal in heavy concentrations and cause flu-like symptoms with lesser exposures, according to Keith Maddy, a state Department of Agriculture safety official.

‘An Excellent Rating’

Coachella Fire Chief John Rios said his department made an on-site inspection of the facility about two weeks ago and gave them “an excellent rating.” Rios said he knew of no instances in which the firm had been cited or warned for breaking any fire safety codes.

Tom Slatterly, Wilbur-Ellis health and safety supervisor, said, “We feel bad about it and we’re trying to help in any way we can.”

Fire officials said there were unconfirmed reports of dead dogs and chickens inside the evacuation area, although one official who flew over the evacuation zone late in the afternoon said he saw no animal carcasses.

A team of specialists from the Orange County Hazardous Material Response Team, which had been at the Anaheim fire, was flown in late in the afternoon. Capt. Mike Rohde, just before taking off to survey the scene from a helicopter, said of the latest blaze: “It is a carbon copy. Same chemicals, same situation. Only this building has more fire damage.”

Darrel Hartshorn, a division chief with the Anaheim Fire Department, said Wednesday that the warehouse blaze in Orange County was “. . . a suspicious fire.”

Firefighters found a car, parked next to the fire site, “had been booby-trapped” to catch fire but “it didn’t work.”

Hartshorn said the booby-trapped car was suspected Wednesday morning of housing a bomb. The Orange County sheriff’s bomb squad responded, but Anaheim city officials said they found no bomb in or under the late-model Cadillac.

Hartshorn declined to comment further on the arson leads, saying it might harm the investigation.

Louis Sahagun reported from Coachella and Jerry Belcher from Los Angeles. Times staff writer Ronald B. Taylor in Los Angeles also contributed to this story.