By Joseph Serna
Los Angeles Times
ONTARIO, Calif. — A massive fire burning inside a Kimberly-Clark paper products facility in Ontario collapsed a warehouse roof and forced firefighters to retreat early Tuesday as flames consumed the 1.2-million square foot structure.
About 20 workers were inside the building at South Hellman Avenue and Merrill Avenue when the fire was reported about 12:30 a.m., Ontario Fire Department Deputy Chief Mike Wedell told KTTV.
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The flames grew “exponentially” and quickly overwhelmed firefighters who rushed in to extinguish the blaze, forcing them to retreat, Wedell said.
“Unfortunately, the fire grew extremely quickly to where our crews needed to make what we call an ‘operational retreat’ to evacuate from the building,” he told KTLA.
The fire was still burning as of 6:30 a.m. The glow of the fire and pillars of smoke could be seen for miles. Fire trucks surrounded the building pumping 1,000 gallons of water a minute.
“We would expect to be here on scene for the rest of the day for sure,” Wedell told KTTV. “We have this building completely surrounded.”
Wedell told reporters at the scene the fire was a suspected arson and one person was taken into custody. No other details were immediately available.
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