Chemical Plant : Explosive Seized in Sun Valley Raid

A highly explosive chemical stored illegally at a Sun Valley chemical manufacturing plant was seized by a city-county task force Friday and taken to Burbank Airport, where it was detonated in an empty field, authorities said.

Authorities said the chemical was found at California Bionuclear Corp., 7654 San Fernando Road. Also discovered in the afternoon raid were several improperly stored toxic, radioactive and explosive chemicals, an illegal laboratory and several violations of the city’s fire and building code, said City Atty. James K. Hahn, whose office headed the investigation. The company, which manufactures radioactive chemicals, according to Hahn, is about 120 yards from a residential neighborhood.

Officials arrived at 1:30 p.m. to serve the company’s owner, Riad M. Ahmed, with a search warrant. They found the plant locked and its five employees gone. After suiting up in protective clothing, members of the Los Angeles Police Department, Los Angeles Fire Department and County Department of Health Services entered the office and found papers strewn about, phones off the hook and “chemical reactions taking place in the sink,” Hahn said.

“It looks like somebody abandoned the place in a hurry,” Hahn said. “They were storing caustic chemicals next to explosive chemicals and other hazardous materials.”

After transporting the explosive chemical methyllithium, officials sealed off the building. Agents of the Environmental Protection Agency are expected to advise city police and fire officials Tuesday on how to best dispose of the remaining chemicals, Hahn said.

Officer Jim Blum, part of the Police Department’s hazardous materials unit, said the biggest danger was posed by the six to eight ounces of methyllithium found stored in an ether solution in an office refrigerator.

The chemical can be extremely explosive when it comes into contact with air or reaches certain temperatures. Methyllithium, when combined with the other chemicals found in the plant, could have exploded with enough force to level a city block, Blum said.

After determining the chemical was not contaminated by radiation, bomb squad experts transported it to a remote field at Burbank-Glendale-Pasadena Airport for detonation. Officials blocked off San Fernando Road and shut down a runway for an hour. The 6:19 p.m. explosion sent 130-foot flames shooting into the sky.

Fire officials discovered the alleged hazard Tuesday during a routine inspection and notified the city attorney’s office, Battalion Fire Chief Jim Young said. The company was cited in August, 1984, for improperly stored chemicals, according to fire officials.

Ahmed is being sought by the city attorney’s office, Deputy City Atty. Keith Pritsker said.