LOCAL : Fire in Irvine Quickly Controlled

Orange County fire officials credited a properly working ventilation system at an Irvine manufacturing plant for the rapid control of a fire early today that broke out in air pollution-control equipment.

Hazardous materials specialists were called to Holt Integrated Circuits on Jeronimo Road in Irvine because the company uses acids and other potent chemicals in the manufacturing process. The fire was confined and extinguished after it broke out about 4:30 a.m. without ever endangering the chemicals. The fire was controlled within half an hour because ventilators worked as designed and stopped the flow of oxygen to the fire, extinguishing the flames, said Fire Department spokeswoman Kathleen Cha

Mike Garner, vice president of the company, said the fire was confined to an air pollution-control device on the roof that cleans gases from the manufacturing process before they are released into the atmosphere. He said the hazardous chemicals are stored in a different section of the building.