1 Hurt as Fire Rips Through Stockpile : Blaze: Building materials at American ConForm in Santa Ana are transformed into molten mass of flame as smoke forces the evacuation of nearby offices. Damage is estimated at $200,000.

A two-alarm fire in an industrial park Monday destroyed a stockpile of foam building materials and endangered nearby warehouses.

Only one minor injury was reported and firefighters from Santa Ana and Costa Mesa capped the flow of molten polystyrene in 31 minutes, preventing it from igniting any buildings near the storage yards of American ConForm Inc. at 1820 S. Santa Fe St.

“It was tricky stuff because it was oozing down like a petroleum product toward (a garment warehouse) next door,” Santa Ana Fire Capt. Don Kennedy said. “Imagine lighting a Styrofoam cup, and having it melt. It was slime on fire.”

Early Fire Department estimates placed the ConForm’s losses at $200,000, while a neighboring business owner said the fire caused his business damages in excess of $50,000. A ConForm employee operating a forklift suffered minor, unspecified injuries during the clean-up operations, fire officials said.

The blaze sent flames 30 feet into the air and created a clinging black smoke that forced the evacuation of nearby offices.

“It was quite a sight, and a little too close for my comfort,” said Mark Becker, who sent the seven employees of his silk-screening company home after he saw the flames across the parking lot at ConForm. “It was just a wall of fire.

“I looked out here and it was just dark everywhere,” Becker said, his white shirt speckled with ash and burnt chunks of cardboard crunching on the sidewalk beneath his feet. “It was unbelievable.”

The stored polystyrene was in the form of cubes that builders link together and fill with concrete to construct walls quickly and cheaply, Karl Feierabend said.

The fire’s cause was still under investigation Monday evening.