Many Evacuees Kept From Homes as Fire Cleanup Continues

Up to 400 people evacuated Sunday after a toxic fire broke out at a Newport Beach metal-finishing plant were to be kept from their homes at least another 24 hours while the unstable chemicals are cleaned up, city officials said Monday.

The decision to keep the 200 to 400 evacuees out of the neighborhood was made after federal Environmental Protection Agency officials donned “fully encapsulated suits” and made two trips inside the Hixson Metal Finishing plant to survey the spilled toxic materials and assess the hazards for cleanup, said Officer Kent Stoddard, spokesman for the Newport Beach Police Department.

140 Different Chemicals

“They advised (us) that there is still a potentially very serious threat from many of the unstable chemicals involved,” Stoddard said. “The evacuation is still in effect and will be for the next 24 to 72 hours. They have found a very large quantity of very unstable chemicals.”

Stoddard said there were 140 different chemicals stored inside the building. City authorities did not identify the chemicals, but a county environmental health official said the more common ones used in metal finishing are acids and cyanide.

If cyanide and acid were to spill and mix during cleanup, they would produce hydrogen cyanide, “a very toxic chemical,” said Robert Merryman, director of enviromental health for the county.

“There are incompatibles (chemicals that should not be mixed) still at the site, and, as a result, we recommended that we keep a partial evacuation that may stand for up to 72 hours, until at least the incompatibles are taken care of,” EPA spokesman Terry Wilson said.

Stoddard said the investigators found the inside of the plant “in total disarray. . . . There are vats turned over. They will have to go in very slowly to get everything stabilized.”

Cause Not Determined

The cause of the fire had not been determined Monday, and there was no damage estimate.

In addition, officials from the regional Water Quality Control Board and the EPA, assisted by the U.S. Coast Guard’s Pacific Strike Team flown in from Novato, Calif., were monitoring levels of metals, cyanides and acids in Newport Harbor that might have been carried there in run-off water, officials said.

Originally, fire officials had cordoned off a two-block area surrounding Hixson Metal Finishing at 829 Production Place. The cordoned area was between 15th and 16th streets and between Placentia and Monrovia avenues, Fire Marshal Ray Brown said. By Monday afternoon, the area had been opened except for a 100-yard stretch along Production Place, officials said.

About 500 people were evacuated Sunday from adjacent apartment complexes and from two nearby mobile home parks, but about 100 were allowed back Sunday night.

On Monday, residents were allowed back into the Ebb Tide Mobile Home Park on Placentia Avenue, as were three-quarters of the residents of Seacliffe Mobile Park on 15th Street. The Newport Villa apartments at 1549 Placentia Ave. remained closed, and the neighboring apartment complex at 1525 Placentia Ave. was to be reopened Monday night. Throughout the day Monday, safety officials escorted residents of 1525 Placentia Ave. back into their apartments to gather clothes and belongings, according to Orange County Search and Rescue.

All nearby businesses on Production Place will remain closed until the chemicals are stabilized, Stoddard said.

The fire broke out shortly before 10 a.m. Sunday, belching what officials initially feared was cyanide-tainted smoke into the air. The metal-finishing plant was engulfed in flames when firefighters arrived. County officials monitoring the air in the neighborhood later determined that there were no cyanide fumes outside, although there “may have been some” inside the building, Merryman said.

Built Sand Barriers

Fire investigators did not enter the building until Monday morning, and the Fire Department’s first concern was to assess the stability of the chemicals and threat of further toxic spills, Fire Chief James Reed said.

Firefighters built sand barriers to contain the water used to fight the fire and did not completely extinguish the blaze until about 10 p.m. Sunday because they were limiting their use of water, officials said.

“By using water judiciously, we held it in check, to make sure we would be able to pick up all the waste water,” Reed said.

The fire apparently caused the building’s roof to cave in, which “caused the vats to tip over and rupture, spilling the chemicals on the floor. Nothing was wrong with the business (Hixson) or was found to be improper at all,” Stoddard said.

Hixson Metal Finishing had been inspected last July, and there were no violations, Reed said. The firm has been established in Newport Beach for many years, and “there have been no problems historically” with the company’s chemical storage, he said. The plant did not have smoke alarms or sprinklers but was not required to, Reed said.

The Newport Beach City Council is considering adoption of a toxic substances disclosure ordinance, which would require businesses to file inventories of chemicals on the property, as well as contingency plans in the event of a spill, Reed said. The Fire Department did, however, have a three-page listing of the chemicals being stored by Hixson, filed voluntarily, so firefighters “had an idea what was there” when they arrived at the fire, Reed said.

‘Everything Went Right’

But Chief Reed said he doubts that whether the proposed ordinance--if it had been on the books--would have affected the way Sunday’s fire was fought.

“I don’t think it would have made any difference,” Reed said Monday. “Yesterday was one of those days when everything went right.” The firefighters knew what they were dealing with, and the hazardous materials team quickly managed the situation, he said. “Even the rain stopped,” he added. Had it poured Sunday, it would have made the amount of runoff water uncontrollable, Reed said.

The Orange County Environmental Management Agency Sunday hired the IT Corp. of Long Beach to remove the contaminated water. And an EPA spokesman said Monday that the owner of the firm, Robert Hixson, had agreed to pay for cleanup of the building.

EPA spokesman Wilson said it was not known whether the runoff water reaching Newport Bay was affecting plant and animal life.

A Red Cross official said only about 15 evacuees stayed at the temporary disaster shelter at nearby Whittier School in Costa Mesa Sunday night. Most were gone by 6:30 or 7 a.m., and 15 to 20 were expected Monday night, the official said.