Arson Ruled to Be Cause of Fire at Tustin Meatpacking Plant

A $1-million fire that destroyed a 40-year-old meatpacking plant in the Old Town section of Tustin was caused by arson, fire officials said Monday.

The 7,440-square-foot wooden building, which until recently had been the Old Tustin Meat Company, was “virtually destroyed” in the blaze that erupted about 8 p.m. Sunday and burned until 1 a.m. Monday, according to Capt. Hank Raymond, a spokesman for the Orange County Fire Department.

“Fire investigators have uncovered physical evidence indicating arson,” Raymond said. Raymond would not say what material was used to start the blaze, only that it began in the rear of the building.

Building Was a Maze

The fire was difficult to control because the building, which had stood at 200 El Camino Real since the early 1940s, was a maze of added-on rooms and air pockets.

“We would knock the fire down in one area, and it would crop up in another space,” Raymond said. “The heat and smoke were so dense that you could only see one foot in front of your face.”

About 100 firefighters from the Orange County, Costa Mesa, Newport Beach, Huntington Beach and Westminster fire departments battled the blaze, officials said. Cork-lined walls and cardboard boxes helped fuel the fire, Raymond said.

At different times during the five-hour blaze, flames shot 30 feet into the sky. “We were concerned about embers coming down on structures a block away,” Raymond said.

While much of the building was gutted, some machines had been covered with debris and were salvageable, Raymond said. The exact amount of damage may go over $1 million when a full inventory of the meat becomes known, Raymond said.

No other structures were damaged, but one firefighter was slightly injured when a light fixture fell on him, according to Raymond.

John Prescott, father of Tustin City Councilman Earl J. Prescott and a longtime Tustin resident, said the core of the building was an adobe structure built in 1942 or 1943 as a meat locker for ranchers and local families during World War II.

Significant Site

When Tustin was a small farming community everyone had a freezer locker to keep meat, Prescott said. “I’d been in there hundreds of times.”

Earl Prescott said the City Council was considering naming the building a historically significant site.

The meatpacking plant had been purchased about eight months ago by Steve Mendel, who was operating the Pacific Meat Co. in the building.

Fire officials are asking that any one with information about who may have been responsible for the fire should call (714) 744-0505.