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LANCASTER, Calif. (KABC) — <\/span>Firefighters spent Friday battling sizzling spots after a large hearth at a automotive recycling yard in Lancaster scorched an estimated 1,500 automobiles.<\/p>\n The hearth burned for hours Thursday, sending up thick black smoke over the Antelope Valley.<\/p>\n As many as 1,500 vehicles and 10 acres on the 20-acre property had been reported to have been scorched by flames as temperatures topped 100 levels within the excessive desert.<\/p>\n Firefighters have since gained management of the hearth, however the smoke prompted a shelter-in-place warning for residents.<\/p>\n “I used to be right here [Thursday] all day. I used to be the final enterprise open,” mentioned Bo Thevelius, who owns a enterprise close to the recycling yard.<\/p>\n Thevelius and one among his workers did not evacuate and witnessed what appeared like an inferno within the recycling yard.<\/p>\n “Each single, perhaps, two minutes, you’d hear nearly like a giant loud gunshot go off, and all of the vehicles exploding. Each couple of minutes, you’d hear one other automotive explode,” he recalled.<\/p>\n The Los Angeles County Fireplace Division reported a knockdown round 9:25 p.m. Thursday. They needed to take care of hazardous supplies exploding together with the intense warmth, making the hearth combat harder.<\/p>\n “It was a really intense sizzling hearth with a number of hydrocarbons, that is why the smoke was so darkish and dense,” mentioned L.A. County Fireplace Battalion Chief Randy Perry.<\/p>\n Thevelius mentioned although his enterprise was down wind of the hearth, firefighters advised him it was simply out of the best way to flee any smoke injury.<\/p>\n “They mentioned that we had been fortunate,” he mentioned. “If it had been blowing the opposite method, we’d not have a constructing.”<\/p>\n Different enterprise homeowners close to the hearth had been nervous that even the slightest shift within the wind would ship black smoke and embers slamming into their buildings.<\/p>\n “The priority for us was although the wind was getting in the other way, when the hearth is that low, I imply, was it going to proceed to form of wick out in a radius after which begin to come over right here the place we weren’t getting all of that smoke? We we now have a church throughout the road,” mentioned David Polak.<\/p>\n The reason for the hearth stays underneath investigation, however L.A. County Fireplace Capt. Sheila Kelliher mentioned early indications present that the hearth began because of a malfunctioning hydraulic automotive crusher.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Copyright \u00a9 2024 KABC Tv, LLC. All rights reserved.<\/p>\n