In Tustin, a U.S. Navy-owned World War II blimp hangar — 17 stories tall, wider than a football field, and originally constructed to store blimps — has been on fire for a week. It’s one of two hangars in the Orange County city. Officials are not trying to extinguish the blaze and instead are waiting for it to burn itself out, which means lots of dangerous chemicals are being released.
Getting close to these hangars is dangerous for firefighters, and since people haven’t been able to get inside, they haven’t investigated the cause of the fire, says Brooke Staggs, environment reporter for the OC Register.
Both hangars in Tustin are on the National Register of Historic Places. “There's a lot of public interest in wanting to maintain the historic structures, which is why it's been so sad for people — that have seen these buildings there for decades — to watch it go up in flames over this past week.”
Staggs says the south hanger is in better condition than the north one, and Tustin has been leasing it over the past few decades for community events. The north hangar has more structural problems — the roof collapsed 10 years ago, and no one wants to pay for repairs. Tustin says the Navy is responsible for the cleanup at this point.
With the fire and release of toxins, the local community is very concerned about health threats. Staggs says when the south hangar was built, lead was common in paints for structure, and arsenic was used to treat wood.
“People were having not only ash … but actually chunks of the building land[ed] in their yards, on the roof of their homes, and landed in schools. So people were taking pictures of debris up to a foot long. So in the first 24 to 48 hours, some residents were picking it up, putting it in the trash,” Staggs says. “Wednesday night was when we started to get word that this did have some dangerous stuff in it. And the county and the city, they started to put out warnings telling people to stay inside. If you have to go outside, wear a mask, and don't touch this material, we're going to figure out what to do with it.”
In the last few days, she explains, the city contracted with a team that wore hazmat gear to clean public streets and schools. The crew can also clean people’s properties if they call a hotline.
It’s tough to say when the burning will end, but rain over the next few days should help, she adds.