A fire at a medical equipment warehouse in Northern California sent thick black smoke pouring into the sky Thursday and prompted evacuations of other nearby facilities as authorities fought to get the blaze under control.
The fire ignited at a distribution center for Medline, a major medical-surgical products provider, in Tracy, a city about 55 miles (88.5 kilometers) east of San Francisco. Officials worked to evacuate a large portion of the area as the wind heightened the risk of spreading embers, said Sgt. Michael Richards, from the city’s police department. The warehouse is in a massive industrial park that also houses fulfillment and distribution centers for Amazon, Home Depot and FedEx.
The company said all of its employees and other personnel at the site were accounted for.
“We are coordinating closely with local authorities and first responders as we assess the fire’s impact and will share more details as they become available,” a spokesperson for the company said in a statement.
A sprinkler system that appeared to be broken and low water pressure in hydrants at the facility hindered the firefight, said Fire Chief Randall Bradley, of the South San Joaquin County Fire Authority. The issues appeared to be with the warehouse’s, not the city’s, water system. Authorities don’t yet know what went wrong, he said.
“Things worked against us,” he said, citing water supply issues, low humidity, high winds and high temperatures. “It was a little bit of a perfect storm for this fire evolving quickly.”
No homes were evacuated.
