Demolition begins on Ontario Kimberly-Clark paper warehouse after destructive fire in April
Demolition work has finally started on the Kimberly-Clark paper goods warehouse in Ontario, months after it was destroyed in a massive fire that was allegedly started by an arson suspect in April.
Now, for at least the next two weeks, demolition crews are expected to work for up to 12 hours a day as they work to remove the exterior concrete walls of the building before they start clearing out the debris left by the April 7 inferno.
Ontario city officials had previously told CBS LA that the demolition process was supposed to begin in May, but work was pushed back until Monday.
"We appreciate your patience and understanding as the property owner and the City work together to address site conditions as safely and efficiently as possible," a statement from city officials said.
In the weeks since the fire was extinguished, some residents had noted the lingering air quality issues as the property still smoldered, so the beginning of the demolition work was a step in the right direction.
Ontario Fire Department crews rushed to the warehouse, located in the 9500 block of Merrill Avenue at around 12:30 a.m. on April 7 after learning of smoke and flames coming from the 1.2-million-square-foot building. Due to the paper products stored inside, including household brand names like Kleenex, Cottonelle, Scott, Huggies and Kotex, the flames burned incredibly fast and took hours for firefighters to fully contain.
Hours after the fire first ignited, authorities announced that someone had been arrested for allegedly starting the blaze. They said that 29-year-old Highland resident Chamel Abdulrakim, who worked for third-party distributor NFI Industries, had set fire to several pallets inside the warehouse.
Video posted to social media appeared to show Abdulrakim holding a lighter to the pallets while saying, "All you had to do was pay us enough to live. ... There goes your inventory."
When Abdulrakim was charged, both at the federal and state levels, prosecutors said that he had privately bragged about starting the fire and compared himself to Luigi Mangione, the man accused of killing United Healthcare CEO Brian Thompson in 2024.
"I just cost these [expletive] billions [of dollars]," Abdulkarim allegedly told other individuals via phone call or text message. "All you had to do was pay us enough to live. Pay us more of the value WE bring. Not corporate. Didn't see the shareholders picking up a shift."
The San Bernardino County District Attorney said that the estimated cost of the blaze was more than $600 million, more than 80% of which were paper products.
