August 10th, 2023
Estimated reading time: 2 minutes
On July 10th, a little after midnight, a medical supply warehouse in Paramount became fully engulfed in flames. Over one hundred and twenty firefighters arrived at a three-alarm blaze that took over four hours to extinguish. The flames, having expanded immensely, surged past the roof, and reached even greater heights.
The crew had to adopt a defensive mode, which involved not entering inside the building but rather fighting the fire only from the outside. As the flames rose, the building was at risk of collapsing. At 4:45 AM, the rescue workers ultimately extinguished the fire completely, and they reported that the building had been knocked down, fortunately without impacting other surrounding businesses.
The medical supply warehouse was a single-story building holding approximately 30,000 ft2 of medical supplies, including hand sanitizer, cleaning materials and masks. When storing ignitable liquids such as hand sanitizer, caution is needed. It must be stored in a cool, dry location and away from heat. Thankfully, no injuries were reported, and investigators are currently examining the fire to determine its cause, which is not yet clear at this time.
It is unknown if the building was provided with automatic sprinklers, but it does look like the precast concrete exterior and dividing walls helped to prevent fire spread to adjacent buildings.
Risk Logic, Inc. can help you determine your protection needs and recommend how to store flammable and other items stored at your warehouse facility. Experienced Risk Logic engineers conduct property loss prevention surveys and offer recommendations to help maintain the safety of your warehouse. Please contact RLI to help avoid a fire such as this one.