Fire Extinguished Quickly in City Asphalt Plant

On Friday, April 10, 2009 at 2:35 PM, 10 Companies of Los Angeles Firefighters, 2 LAFD Rescue Ambulances, 1 Arson Unit, 1 Hazardous Materials Team, 1 EMS Battalion Captain, 1 Battalion Chief Officer Command Team, 1 Division Chief Officer Command Team, under the direction of Battalion Chief Dan Mc Carty, responded to a reported Structure Fire at 7245 N. Laurel Canyon Bl. in the North Hollywood area.

Firefighters responded to reports of a structure fire at a known address approximately a block from the Fire Station. As Firefighters pulled out of the station, they saw a huge plume of thick, black smoke. On arrival, Firefighters were directed to a 200 gallon tank, with approximately 40 gallons of fuel, which had ignited. The intense fire was impinging on two, 8,000 gallon containers of asphalt contents, prompting Firefighters to expeditiously deploy handlines as cooling measures for the larger containers, preventing their potential ignition. An immediate request for additional companies, a Foam Tender and a Hazardous Material Squad was made by the IC.

With copious amounts of water, Firefighters were able to gain control of the blaze. The intense heat from the blaze did partially compromise one of the 8,000 gallon containers. Because of the abundance of water needed for the fire, hydrocarbon tainted runoff was diked to prevent flow into the storm drain system.

64 Firefighters were needed to knock down the fire in 17 minutes. No injuries were reported to civilians or Firefighters. The cause is undetermined and the dollar loss is estimated at $500,000 to machinery and wiring. The asphalt plant is one of two plants in the City of Los Angeles, a part of the Department of Public Works.

(photos)

Submitted by d'Lisa Davies
Los Angeles Fire Department