1,500 Flee Saticoy Chemical Plant Fire That Injured 17 Firefighters

Firefighters Tuesday extinguished an industrial chemical fire in Saticoy near Ventura that had sent 1,500 residents fleeing to emergency shelters Monday night.

Seventeen Ventura County firefighters were taken to local hospitals after exposure to unidentified poisonous gases at Pacific Intermediates, a company that has been frequently scrutinized for alleged hazardous materials violations, according to Fire Department officials. No injuries were reported among residents.

About three hours after the fire started at 6 p.m. Monday, Ventura County sheriff’s deputies rode through the streets of the agricultural settlement just east of Ventura, blaring their vehicle sirens and urging over public address systems that people evacuate the area. Residents, who reported an acrid smell in the air, were not permitted to return until about 5 a.m. Tuesday.

Investigators have not yet determined a cause for the fire, which closed State Highway 118, destroyed two small businesses and burned part of an industrial park with flames that at times leaped 100 feet into the sky.

“I’ve never seen anything burn like that,” said Battalion Chief Bob Mumford, one of about 150 firefighters on the scene. “It glowed and swirled like a tornado, and went straight up.” Fifteen of the firefighters seen by doctors were returned to duty at the fire scene. Reservist Jim Greer was kept for observation in Ventura County Medical Center and Capt. Sam Turner was taken to Los Robles Regional Medical Center in Thousand Oaks for treatment in a hyperbaric chamber to re-oxygenate his blood, officials said.

Fire officials said the blaze was particularly difficult to control because many chemicals thought to be on the premises would “react violently” to water or synthetic fire-retardants. Companies from the city of Ventura and units from Ventura, Santa Barbara and Los Angeles counties soaked nearby structures and dug a deep ditch to trap toxic runoff from the fire.

Vacuum trucks from IT Corp. of Los Angeles on Tuesday scooped up thousands of gallons of the tainted runoff, which included the contents of ruptured chemical drums and the comparatively little water that had been sprayed inside, for transport to a hazardous-waste dump.

Pacific Intermediates, which mixes compounds for pharmaceutical companies, is “absolutely loaded with a tremendous variety and quantity of extremely hazardous materials,” Battalion Chief Dick Perry said.

Perry said a departmental investigation will try to determine whether the company has properly stored, maintained and kept track of its hazardous substances.

The company’s owner, Benjamin L. Adams of Newbury Park, could not be reached for comment.

Pacific Intermediates has been under investigation by the Fire Department, the Ventura County Environmental Health Department and the Ventura County district attorney’s office for alleged offenses involving toxics, officials said.

Two county fire inspectors were injured at the plant last summer when a 55-gallon drum “spontaneously vented,” spraying the inspectors with a caustic compound.

“The company has not been cooperative with inspectors,” said Perry, noting that fire inspectors “are under court order not to enter without a warrant.”

The U.S. Department of Labor also plans to scrutinize safety and training procedures at the company, said Donald C. Jackson, a Los Angeles-based compliance officer for the Occupational Safety and Health Administration.

Trooped to Shelter

Among the temporarily displaced Saticoy residents, most spent the Monday night with friends or relatives, according to Red Cross spokeswoman Lenore Gabel, but more than 300 trooped to a shelter five miles away in Ventura’s Buena High School.

“It was kind of scary at first,” said Joe DeLeon, 17. “We didn’t know what was going on. The sirens were going and you could see kind of a glow in the sky. The first thing I thought about was my dogs--will they make it?”