Fiery Explosion Caught On Camera
By: Ray Doughty
Updated: July 14, 2010
A factory fire sparked several fiery explosions early Wednesday in Los Angeles.
Fire crews battled the blaze for about two hours amid the debris-laden blasts and collapsing walls.
Two firefighters, one of them a captain, sustained hand burns in one of the blasts according to Cecil Manresa of the Los Angeles Fire .
Manresa also said the two experienced ringing in the ears and they went to hospitals to get checked out.
Six task forces and a total of up to 100 firefighters were expected to remain at the scene for hours Wednesday because at least one of the structures contained metal alloys including titanium and magnesium.
"You can't put water on titanium," LAFD Capt. Gail Manning explained. "They're going to have to let the metal burn. It's going to be a bulldozer operation."
Close to 100 firefighters initially responded to the fire after it was called in at 11:43 Tuesday evening.
By 2 a.m. there were about 220 firefighters at the scene.
Fire crews were ordered out of the building at 12:03 a.m. to fight the fire in defensive mode, from the outside.
An explosion at 12:25 a.m. shook the burning complex, rained debris on fire crews and shattered emergency vehicle windows.
Fire commanders ordered head counts to assess possible injuries.
The two injured firefighters were assessed at the scene before they were taken to hospitals.
"Many of you have seen at the brush fires the ember storms we experience," LAFD Deputy Chief Mario Rueda said. "That is exactly what we experienced here. "As a result of these explosions, titanium chips dispersed over the neighborhood. Large chunks of concrete impacted some of our apparatus and the concussive effect knocked out some of our windows, also of apparatus."
Rueda said titanium golf club heads were manufactured inside the building.
By 12:35 a.m. the blaze had spread to at least one adjoining building.
Fire crews stayed out of the buildings but used alleys between the structures to knock down parts of the fire.
The complex of buildings appeared to span an entire block from McKinley to Poloma Avenue.
