On Saturday, August 12, 2006 at 2:43 p.m., 16 companies of Los Angeles firefighters, four LAFD rescue ambulances, one arson unit, two urban search and rescue units, one rehab unit, one hazardous materials team, two EMS battalion captains, three battalion chief officer command teams, one Division Chief Officer Command Team, fourteen LACoFD companies, and two LACoFD Battalion Chief Officers, under the direction of LAFD Battalion Chief Kwame Cooper responded to a Major Emergency Fire at 20502 Denker Avenue in the Harbor Gateway area of the City of Los Angeles.
First units on the scene encountered heavy fire conditions involving a large amount of recycled news print stored outside in an area approximately 300' x 100' in size.
Firefighters fought a tenacious battle and simultaneously deployed multiple master streams and Class A foam in a brisk defensive operation to prevent the fire from spreading to buildings on the north and south.
The well-coordinated effort of more than 158 Firefighters confined the fire to the Smurfit-Stone Paper Recycling Plant, and extinguished the flames in 113 minutes. There were no reported injuries. The dollar loss is estimated at $300,000, and the cause of the blaze remains under active investigation.