ONTARIO, CALIFORNIA — Just after midnight on Tuesday morning (today), an arson fire was set in a very large commercial warehouse located in the 9500 block of Merrill Avenue. As the first due resources arrived on the scene, they reported the fire to be well-established and immediately requested additional resources.

Photo Credit: SBCoFD

The building, listed at 1.2 million square feet, is a concrete tilt-up facility operated by Kimberly-Clark, which serves as a distribution warehouse for various paper products.

Local fire officials reported there was a brief initial interior attack, but were immediately called to exit the structure due to extreme fire conditions quickly deteriorating, changing from an interior attack to a defensive firefight and due to a massive high volume of master streams.

Fire would eventually spread throughout the building due to a heavy fire load, causing the incident to reach a six-alarm response. This is unheard of, but for this type of commercial structure, the fire load and resources needed to control this well-established fire required all hands on deck. Literally.

While firefighters were conducting primary and secondary searches of the building, there was one person reported as missing and later suspected by Investigators to have started the fire. The suspect was taken into custody by the Ontario Police Department. He was said to be an employee with a third-party distribution company for the Kimberly-Clark product owner. He was charged with multiple arson-related felony charges and is being held at a local Detention Center, where he has been denied bail.

This incident was definitely a team effort by many mutual partners that consisted of San Bernardino County FD, San Bernardino County Office of Fire Marshals, Riverside County Fire, Riverside City FD, Rancho Cucamonga Fire, Chino Valley Fire, Corona Fire, Montclair Fire, Colton Fire, Rialto Fire, LA City FD, LA County FD, and San Manuel FD. The Ontario Police Department was dispatched to the fire scene to assist with traffic control, drone operations, and the fire investigation.

There were more than 140 firefighters called to fight this massive out-of-control fire from many parts of California. Due to the high volume of resources and getting a handle on the fire, CAL FIRE / RCFD were starting to release some of their resource just before 0730 hours PT. OFD reported the fire was contained to the building as of 0746 hours PT, ash from the fire was present, and the air quality at the time of the presser was very poor.

No injuries were reported to firefighters, nor were any other public officials reported.

Distribution employees who were inside the facility at the time of the fire broke out were able to escape without injury.

Officials are asking for the Public’s help with any information or tips related to this fire investigation. Please contact Detective Ryan Ronveaux at (909) 408-1748 or rronveaux@ontariopolice.org.

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