200 Newport Evacuees Still Kept From Homes as Cleanup Continues

More than 200 of the people evacuated Sunday because of a toxic fire at a Newport Beach metal-finishing plant will be kept from their homes through today, public safety officials said late Tuesday afternoon.

Newport Beach Police Officer Kent Stoddard said that cleanup crews were expected to finish swabbing up the spilled toxic chemicals at the Hixson Metal Finishing plant on Production Place by nightfall Wednesday.

The cause of the fire, which started early Sunday morning in the 10,000-square-foot building, had not been determined Tuesday, Stoddard said, although investigators discovered that it started in the plant’s southeast corner.

About 500 Evacuated

Stoddard said that 140 different chemicals were stored inside the building, including acids and three types of cyanide. An estimated 500 residents of nearby apartments and mobile home parks were evacuated during the blaze. Between 200 and 250 were still homeless Tuesday night, he added.

The crews waited until 3:30 p.m. Tuesday for schools to close and children to leave the area before they resumed pumping between 2,000 and 4,000 gallons of spilled chemicals and run-off water into tankers for disposal.

They stopped working at nightfall Tuesday, Stoddard said, because turning on lights could increase the hazard to workers.

“It is still a potentially hazardous situation because of the unstable chemicals,” Stoddard said. “It (pumping and illuminating the area) could cause flare-ups.”

Two nearby private schools--Carden Hall and Newport Beach Christian High--will be closed today during pumping as a precautionary measure, Stoddard said. Although the burned-out plant remained stable most of Tuesday, the threat of a potential hazard was raised again when cleanup crews resumed their efforts.

A Red Cross official said only three people spent the night in a disaster shelter at nearby Whittier School Monday, down from about 15 Sunday. The shelter was closed Tuesday night, and the Red Cross planned to house those without a place to stay in local hotels.