Where There Was Smell, There Eventually Was Fire

A fire that smoldered out of sight for hours in a carpet-cleaning business Wednesday eventually surged into a blaze that threw off streamers of pungent smoke, forced the evacuation of dozens of companies and sent a firefighter to the hospital.

The fire probably began some time after business owner Mark Kandarian left for an appointment about 7:30 a.m., officials said. Other workers in the business park at Pullman Street and Paularino Avenue said they noticed a strong chemical smell around their offices and Kandarian’s business, What A Difference!, but weren’t sure where it was coming from.

“It smelled like propane or cyanide,” said Joey Martinez, an accountant who works at an electrical contracting company. “We were walking around to see if everyone else smelled it too. By 9 o’clock it was so bad we had to report it.”

When firefighters arrived, they found only “a little bit of smoke” but also noticed the stench of burning chemicals, said Costa Mesa Fire Division Chief Ken Soltis. They pinpointed its origin and called for help from hazardous-materials teams in Santa Ana and Newport Beach, he said. Businesses in a three-block radius were evacuated.

“Initially, there wasn’t a fire at all,” Soltis said. “But there was definitely a haze in the air. We didn’t know what we had at that point, but we weren’t about to take any chances.”

Kandarian said another worker at the business park paged him and told him about the fire. By 10 a.m., firefighters had strung hoses through the windows and stairwells of two adjoining businesses and were dousing his two-story office, now fully ablaze, with water.

As he raced back, Kandarian said he saw “towers of black smoke” and worried frantically about his dog, Jack, a Jack Russell terrier that he had left in the office.

“When I pulled up and saw him there with those firemen, it made me feel much better,” Kandarian said. “Everything’s a mess, my entire business is destroyed. But I can replace this stuff, right? I have to look on the bright side of it or I’ll go nuts.”

About 80 firefighters worked more than an hour to extinguish the blaze, which at times spewed green and yellow flames at them, Soltis said. One firefighter, an eight-year veteran of the department, was taken to Hoag Memorial Hospital Presbyterian after complaining of chest pains.

Employees watched the fire crews from across the street, continuing with business from cellular telephones while hunched over clipboards on the trunks of their cars.

“The electricity, phones, everything in the entire complex is down,” said David Koran, who manages a communications network company. “I tried to tell the clients there was a fire, but they don’t care. They want me to work, that’s all.”

Aside from Kandarian’s business, which was destroyed, at least two other offices suffered severe smoke and water damage, Soltis said. Investigators had not determined what caused the fire but said none of the chemicals inside appeared to be toxic. As a precaution, however, crews used sandbags to contain the water runoff in the parking lot and keep it away from storm drains.

Rolls of foam carpet padding that were stored in the office and burned in the fire probably were the source of the chemical smell, Soltis said.