The State - News from Dec. 12, 1988
About 1,500 Fontana residents were allowed to return to their homes after a pesticide spill at a truck loading yard prompted their evacuation. The precautionary evacuations began shortly after a 55-gallon drum containing the liquid pesticide mercaptodimethur fell off a fork lift and ruptured at Pacific Interstate Express Trucking on Mulberry Avenue, said John Schmidt, the city’s emergency services coordinator. Residents of the Southridge housing development, located downwind from the spill site, were sent to shelters at Fontana High School and Southridge Middle School while officials cleaned up the pesticide. Several people were treated for eye irritation and breathing difficulties by paramedics.
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