Firefighter Says Firm Was Burning Illegally : Defense Contractor Blamed for Blaze

A defense contractor caused a five-acre brush fire Thursday while burning an explosive powder on its Saugus property without a permit, the Los Angeles County Fire Department said.

The fire started at National Technical Systems when some of the material exploded and ignited brush, Capt. Don Scott said.

Scott said the fire caused no injury to people or buildings but that at one point threatened to engulf 55-gallon drums of a flammable liquid stored on the company’s property. “That whole place is full of hazardous materials,” he said.

“What they were doing was an illegal burning operation, and they got caught.”

The fire began at 1:03 p.m. and was contained five hours later by 10 engines and 150 firefighters, he said.

Danger of Spread

Scott said the blaze caused special concern for fire officials because of the danger that it might spread to a cluster of firms in the area that handle explosives.

National Technical Systems’ plant is next to one operated by Bermite, a defense contractor and explosives manufacturer. Last month, an unoccupied chemical-blending building at Bermite was destroyed by an explosion and fire.

Scott said the Thursday fire started when a National Technical Systems employee began burning explosive materials in a buried 55-gallon drum, then threw in two 40-millimeter shells. The shells exploded, Scott said, blowing the lid off the drum and igniting brush nearby.

Firm to Be Cited

Scott said the Fire Department will cite National Technical Systems, an explosives testing company based in Woodland Hills, for burning explosive waste without the necessary Los Angeles County permit.

Two other explosives firms in the area--Bermite and Space Ordnance Systems, which has plants several miles away--have disposed of waste by open buring over the years but have been pressured by the South Coast Air Quality Management District to come up with a different method. Bermite has been given temporary approval to continue burning, but Space Ordnance Systems has been denied a variance to burn 2,100 drums of explosive waste.