The $500 million SoCal warehouse intentionally burned bya smirking arsonistis set to be demolished, city officials say.
It took 175 firefighters to extinguish Ontario’s 1.2-million-square-foot Kimberly-Clark paper goods warehouse allegedly set alight by a disgruntled employeewho wanted higher payon April 7.
A month later, city officials said the hulking ruin is set to be demolished, even as the charred site of the six-alarm fire near South Hellman Avenue and Merrill Avenue in San Bernadino County still smolders and threatens to ignite again.
“We have received calls regarding smoldering and potential fire activity at the Kimberly-Clark warehouse,” the City of Ontario posted in an online community update issued last week.
“Demolition by the responsible party is currently pending,” the message continued.
“Individuals with respiratory conditions or underlying health concerns should avoid the immediate area, if possible,” it warned.
Representatives for Kimberly-Clark, which leased the barned warehouse before the blaze and used it to store massive stockpiles of diapers, towels and toilet paper, didn’t respond to a request for comment.
Workers from the company were set to conduct a walk-through of the site Monday ahead of the start of demolition work, according to KTLA.
The warehouse itself was worth $156 million, according to Zillow. It was crammed full of paper goods when it was set alight. Federal prosecutors put the total cost of the blaze at half-a-billion dollars.
The disgruntled employee arrested forstarting the massivefire thatdestroyed his company’s sprawling Ontario warehouseis being held in West Valley Detention Center in Rancho Cucamonga on several charges of felony arson and faces life in prison if convicted.
Source: California Post – Breaking California News, Photos & Videos
