Fire Evacuees Home After Toxic Scare : Burbank: Industrial blaze posed a dilemma because liquid cyanide was stored at site. Officials decided to let it burn itself out.

Residents evacuated overnight from the neighborhood near Chestnut and Mariposa streets were allowed back into their homes Sunday morning after firefighters extinguished a blaze that burned an industrial plating company that housed potentially deadly liquid cyanide.

Authorities evacuated nine square blocks around the Alert Plating Co.--located at 730 N. Mariposa St.--which caught fire about 6:30 p.m. Saturday, said Burbank Fire Marshal Darryl Forbes.

About 100 people were taken to Walt Disney Elementary School to spend the night. A police officer was taken to St. Joseph’s Medical Center for smoke inhalation and promptly released, Forbes said.

About 60 firefighters were called to the fire, which posed a strategic dilemma because hundreds of gallons of toxic chemicals were stored at the building, Forbes said. Fire officials feared that sending streams of water into the building might inadvertently create a dangerous mix of chemical gases.

Forbes said firefighters also did not want to send gallons of dangerous chemicals into storm drains.

As a result, “we decided to confine the fire to the building. We basically let the building burn,” Forbes said.

The fire was contained by 7 p.m. Saturday, but did not burn out until 10:30 a.m. Sunday.

Residents were allowed back into their homes at 11 a.m. Sunday, Forbes said.

Despite firefighters’ measures, small traces of cyanide were detected in the air and the water runoff surrounding the building, Forbes said.

A hazardous-materials disposal company pumped the tainted water out Sunday. The company also pumped the cyanide out of the building early Sunday morning, discovering that 450 gallons of acids had mixed with the cyanide.

“It’s a deadly mixture,” Forbes said.

The damage caused by the fire is estimated at $1.5 million.

The origin of the fire was unknown Sunday. Burbank fire officials were investigating.

The company’s owner could not be reached for comment Sunday.