Blaze Sends Paint Stripper Into Drains

An undetermined amount of hazardous material seeped into Anaheim storm drains Sunday afternoon during a fire at a paint-stripping plant, city fire officials said.

Firefighters were able to contain most of the material behind a temporary boom around the Orange County Stripping building at 1019 E. South St., near East Street, said Anaheim Fire Department spokeswoman Maria Sabol.

The fire began about 1 p.m. It took 39 firefighters from nine units 26 minutes to control it, Sabol said. No one was injured and the cause was not immediately known.

“When the first unit arrived, there was fire breaking through the roof,” Sabol said. “We were able to save about three-quarters of the [8,000-square-foot] building.”

No damage estimates were available Sunday.

The hazardous solution, which contains ethanol amine, is used by the company to strip paint from car wheels, Sabol said.

Anaheim’s hazardous materials team contained about 1,200 gallons of water mixed with ethanol amine, and prevented it from flowing into storm drains, she said.

“Some of it did go into it,” Sabol said. “But they were successful in diking the majority of it.”

Orange County health officials were on the scene Sunday to assess the damage.