2 Firefighters Injured Battling Huntington Park Commercial Fire
The toxic chemicals from the fire have the neighborhood on alert.
By Whitney Irick and Kate Larsen
Toxic chemicals from a fire put a Huntington Park neighborhood on alert. Kate Larsen reports for the NBC4 News at 11 on Sunday, Sept. 4, 2016. (Published Sunday, Sept. 4, 2016)
Firefighters and a hazardous material team are working to contain dangerous leaking chemicals and flare-ups following a commercial building fire in Huntington Park on Saturday.
Two firefighters were injured while battling the fire at a metal plating facility.
The fire was reported just before 5 p.m. on Saturday on the 3300 block of Benedict Way in Huntington Park.
The fire was quickly knocked down, but firefighters were ordered to stay on scene.
Twenty vats of cyanide and hydrofluoric acid were inside the plant. Neighbors, unaware of the dangerous chemicals inside, are looking for answers after a thick plume of smoke covered the area.
"We know there's a factory in the back so we're like what's going on? And we did smell the funny smell, but we don't know what it is," Nadia Arauz told NBC4.
There was a shelter in place order for the neighborhoods surrounding the Bodycote plant.
The South Coast Air Quality Management District is expected to test the air.