http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/metro/20060325-9999-6m25ncfire.html
March 25, 2006
The San Diego Union Tribune (Calif.)
Fire in fumigated building prompts 300
to evacuate
By Pauline Repard
UNION-TRIBUNE STAFF WRITER
NATIONAL CITY – More than 300 people were evacuated from
their homes last night when a three-alarm fire broke out in a
D Avenue apartment building filled with
fumigation chemicals.
No one was injured as firefighters worked for hours to quell
flames and a towering column of smoke.
The Red Cross set up an evacuation center at Sweetwater High
School for displaced neighborhood residents.
As of late last night, fire officials did not know when it would
be safe for residents to return.
“This operation will go on for quite a while,” National
City Fire Dept. Battalion Chief Don Condon said at 11 p.m.
The cause of the fire was not known. Condon said investigators
likely wouldn't enter the building until morning.
Nearby residents reported smoke coming from the roof of the two-story
apartment building at 8:45 p.m.
The building is one of several in a single apartment complex
on D Avenue between 24th and 26th streets.
All the buildings were being fumigated, Condon said, but only
one caught fire. He said Vikane gas was being used for the fumigation.
Condon said he did not know if tenants of the complex had relocated
before the fumigation process began.
Firefighters arrived to see flames coming through the roof. “As
we peeled away the tent, we got more active flames,” Condon
said.
“Our concern was for the Vikane in
the smoke,” he said.
The thick column of smoke rose straight
up into the still night air.
National City police evacuated the 354 neighboring residents,
Condon said.
Police said some people along D Avenue refused to go, so they
were advised to stay indoors with windows shut.
“The toxicity of the smoke is why we evacuated people,”
Condon said.
National City fire crews were assisted by firefighters from San
Diego, Chula Vista, Bonita and Coronado for a total of eight engines
and four trucks.
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Pauline Repard: (619) 293-1893; pauline.repard@uniontrib.com