150 Evacuated During Blaze in Trash Bin

HUNTINGTON BEACH —  About 50 residents and more than 100 workers were evacuated Thursday when a trash bin containing fiberglass waste caught fire in an industrial complex, fire officials said.

About 5:30 p.m., Donald Gresham and Pedro Cendejas, workers at CAMBRO Manufacturing, 7601 Clay Ave., were getting ready to take a break when they noticed smoke coming from a trash container in the parking lot.

“A few minutes later, smoke was just boiling out of there,” said Gresham, 66.

Gresham and Cendejas said they grabbed fire extinguishers and were about to tackle the flames when their supervisor told them to move a second trash bin that was next to the burning one.

By the time the men moved the trash bin, firefighters had arrived and began evacuating workers as well as residents on Huntington and Delaware streets.

Thursday evening, neighbors and CAMBRO’s workers watched as firefighters drilled holes in the trash bin to pump water into it. It had been sealed to keep the blaze from spreading.

The residents’ evacuation was “just a precautionary measure” because the company uses flammable raw material to produce plastic food service products, Huntington Beach Fire Department spokeswoman Martha Werth said.

“If that were just regular trash, this would have just been a regular fire,” Werth said. “But the materials are known to be hazardous, and we don’t want to take any chances.”

At 7 p.m., the fire, which never spread beyond the trash bin, was contained, and the residents returned to their homes. Workers returned to their jobs shortly thereafter.