Fire Forces Evacuation of 250 Near LAX : Hazardous materials: A cloud of cyanide-tainted smoke wafts over neighborhood. No injuries are reported.

About 250 residents of a neighborhood near Los Angeles International Airport were evacuated from their homes Sunday when a chemical fire broke out at an Inglewood electrical company, fire officials said.

The fire at Del Mar Designs, 8335 Hindry Ave., erupted about 2:30 p.m., sending a cloud of cyanide-tainted smoke over the neighborhood.

Most people evacuated from the six-block area went to friends’ or relatives’ houses, but 60 adults and 25 children spent four hours at nearby Osage Elementary School before they were allowed to return home.

The smoke contained 2 parts per million of cyanide, one-fifth of the “danger threshold,” said Assistant Los Angeles City Fire Chief Alan Schroeder. “It’s not dangerous.”

Some water used to fight the fire entered storm drains before dikes could be erected to block it, and the Los Angeles County Health Department was notified, Schroeder said. The runoff was “very minimal,” he said, noting that the drain empties in Ballona Creek and the Ballona wetlands, a sensitive wildlife habitat.

Inglewood firefighters responded to the fire and put it out, Schroeder said. They then called Los Angeles firefighters, who keep hazardous materials records. Fire officials in Los Angeles knew there were hazardous materials because the company makes computer circuit boards, he said.

Meanwhile, the fire flared again and the Los Angeles department responded with more than 100 firefighters. The blaze was brought under control shortly before 7 p.m. No injuries were reported.

Officials had no estimate of damage, and the fire’s cause was under investigation.

Los Angeles Fire Department spokesman Greg Acevedo said late Sunday that the danger of cynanide contamination had been reduced, but cleanup crews still had several hours of work ahead of them, mopping up toxic runoff that included sulfuric acid.