5,000 in Fillmore Flee Toxic Threat From Fire

The threat of toxic fumes from a fire at a garden store forced 5,000 residents of this Ventura County farming community from their homes overnight, but they returned early Friday morning after the blaze had nearly burned itself out.

Authorities are investigating the possibility of arson in the fire, which leveled Dewey’s Garden Center and caused $250,000 damage as nearly half of the city’s 11,000 residents were evacuated.

A few spots still smoldered in the blackened rubble Friday as firefighters stood back, waiting for the fire, which was fueled by pesticides, herbicides and swimming pool supplies, to extinguish itself.

They feared exposure to rodent poison containing arsenic and cyanide, which is easily absorbed through the skin, and swimming pool supplies containing chlorine, whose fumes can cause lung damage, said Pat Askren, chief of Fillmore’s volunteer fire department.

“Ten years ago we would have fought this fire,” he said, “but now we’re so aware of the potential for damage to firefighters.”

The only reports of injury among the 125 fire and law enforcement officers at the scene came from two Police Explorer Scouts, who were treated at a local hospital and released after complaining about tingling sensations in their throats.

Specialists from Ventura County’s Environmental Health Department had advised firefighters against directing water at the flames, fearing the runoff would be toxic, said Dana Determan, a department spokesman.

However, air and water samples taken at the fire, which was reported at 11 p.m. Thursday, showed no signs of toxics, Determan said. The fire, which was also stoked by fertilizers and older, wooden sections of the structure, was believed to have burned at such a high temperature that it incinerated toxic substances before they could vaporize, said Steve Kephart, a county environmental health specialist.

“It was so hot that the fire basically destroyed all the chemicals,” he said.

The fire was confined to the shed-like structure, parts of which dated back 100 years.

“It was scary, very scary,” said Nellie Chavez, 74. “The flames were so big for such a small place and the smoke was very black.”

Residents of the city’s Eastside were directed to a Red Cross shelter in nearby Fillmore High School but were moved to three churches farther from the fire as winds swirled the smoke throughout the city.

“It was like a campfire,” Askren said. “Wherever you went, the smoke followed.”

The owner of the garden store, Gayron Downs of Piru, doubted he could rebuild it. “I’m still kind of in shock,” he said. “Our insurance policy is quite old and the cost of construction has escalated.”

An arson investigator was pessimistic about determining the cause of the fire, which officials described as suspicious in origin, because it had been allowed to burn itself out.

“Water has a really nice way of preserving the point of origin,” said Peter Cronk, an investigations specialist with the Ventura County Fire Department.