LANCASTER, Calif. (KABC) — Firefighters spent Friday battling hot spots after a massive fire at an auto recycling site in Lancaster destroyed about 1,500 vehicles.
The fire burned for hours on Thursday, sending thick black smoke over the Antelope Valley.
As many as 1,500 cars and 10 acres on the 20-acre property were reportedly burned as temperatures reached more than 100 degrees in the high desert.
Firefighters have managed to bring the fire under control, but rising smoke has prompted warnings for residents to shelter in place.
“I’m here [Thursday] all day. I was the last business owner open,” said Bo Thevelius, who owns a business near the recycling site.
Thevelius and one of his employees did not evacuate and witnessed what appeared to be a fire in the recycling facility.
“Every two minutes, you would hear a loud gunshot and all the cars would explode. Every few minutes, you would hear another car explode,” he recalled.
The Los Angeles County Fire Department reported the fire broke out around 9:25 p.m. Thursday. They were dealing with explosive hazardous materials along with extreme heat, making it difficult to put out the fire.
“It was a very intense, hot fire with a lot of hydrocarbons, which is why the smoke is so dark and dense,” said LA County Fire Department Battalion Chief Randy Perry.
Thevelius said even though his business premises were located at the bottom of the fire site, firefighters told him his business premises were in a safe place to avoid smoke damage.
“They said we were lucky,” he said. “If the wind had blown the other way, we might not have a building.”
Other business owners near the fire worried that even the slightest change in wind would send black smoke and embers crashing down on their buildings.
“Our concern is even though the wind is blowing the other way, when the fire is still low, I mean, is it going to continue to spread in a certain radius and then start to spread over here where we don’t get all that smoke? We have a church across the street,” said David Polak.
The cause of the fire is still under investigation, but LA County Fire Captain Sheila Kelliher said initial indications are that it started due to a malfunction in the hydraulic car crusher.
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