Ammunition Plant Goes Up in Wall of Fire, Hail of Bullets

Bullets exploded and ricocheted off concrete walls when a fire roared through a Laguna Hills ammunition plant Monday morning, forcing firefighters to take cover behind their trucks.

“Hundreds of rounds were going off,” said Sheriff’s Deputy Colin Murphy. “Police and firefighters were ducking and scurrying.”

No one was injured in the blaze at the S & S Precision Bullets plant and no fire engines were struck by flying rounds, county fire officials said. Damage to the gutted bullet-manufacturing firm was put at $300,000. Cause of the fire is under investigation.

Firefighters battled the 40-foot flames from 50 feet away with high-power water hoses before they approached the plant and brought the fire under control 20 minutes later, said Capt. Patrick McIntosh of the county Fire Department.

“We operated from a safe distance until the situation was under control,” McIntosh said.

“It was like a popcorn party,” said Jeannine Bassi, who works at a plumbing company next door to the ammunition plant. “Bullets were going off like mad for about 10 minutes.”

Firefighter Almost Hit

Bassi, who reported the fire, said one firefighter on the roof of the plant was almost struck by a ricocheting bullet.

At one point, a propane tank on a forklift inside the plant exploded from the heat.

“The whole front end of the unit started glowing” said Claudio La Rosa, superintendent at an adjoining heating firm. “It was just a torch over there.”

Larry Albers, owner of the heating firm, tried to call for help when the blaze broke out but the telephone lines had burned.

“The stuff just started to blow up, the fluorescent lights exploding in an orange flash,” he said. “It was scary.”

Neighbors of the bullet plant in the light industrial park said that they were aware the firm manufactured ammunition but that they had not considered it a special danger. The plant had operated in the area for about two years, they said.

More than half a dozen ammunition plants operate in Brea, Fullerton, Orange, Garden Grove, Huntington Beach, Santa Ana and Costa Mesa. Each requires a fire department and a county or city license to operate, authorities said.

S & S Precision Bullets had lawfully complied with all county fire requirements, McIntosh said. The firm passed an annual fire inspection and had supplied six-month update reports to meet a county disclosure ordinance for companies handling hazardous materials.

According to a disclosure report filed in the past six months, the company stored 10,000 bullet primers--about five pounds of what is classified as a type-A explosive--along with 100 pounds of flammable smokeless powder, McIntosh said.

The plant site, however, had an occupancy classification issued in April, 1979, that allowed “factories and workshops using material not highly flammable or combustible,” said William Eckles, a building inspector with the county Environmental Management Agency.

Eckles said he was not certain whether the code wording allowed a plant using explosives to operate there. He said that his office was investigating the incident but that “if it was legal for (county) fire, it’s probably legal for us.”

Ronald Greek, a commissioner on the Saddleback Coordinating Council that advises the county on land-use questions in the Laguna Hills area, said he was upset to learn of the plant’s operation.

“We weren’t aware of it,” he said. “That type of permit should have the benefit of public review. I think we would like to know about it, and we don’t.”

Donald Clark, owner of the plant, declined to comment.

Businesses on either side of the plant, located in an eight-unit concrete complex, incurred only minor smoke and water damage, fire officials said.