Warehouse full of paper towels, other paper goods ravaged by fire, worker accused of arson

A Southern California warehouse containing paper products went up in flames Tuesday, and an employee in the building is accused of starting the fire.

The 1.2 million-square-foot facility containing Kimberly-Clark paper goods is located in Ontario, California, about 37 miles east of downtown Los Angeles. Firefighters arrived at the facility at about 12:36 a.m. local time Tuesday and began battling the blaze, the Ontario Fire Department said. No injuries were reported to facility staff or to responding firefighters.

Fire officials said that, when they searched for the occupants of the facility and potential victims, one person was missing. That person, 29-year-old Chamel Abdulkarim, is an employee of NFI Industries and is accused of starting the fire, officials said.

Mr. Abdulkarim was arrested and is now facing multiple arson-related felony charges.

NFI Industries is a third-party logistics company that operates the warehouse, Kimberly-Clark, the makers of Kleenex tissues, Scott paper towels and Cottonelle toilet paper, said in a release. Kimberly-Clark emphasized that none of its employees were on site at the time of the fire.

A social media purportedly linked to Mr. Abdulkarim shows a fire being started on a pallet of paper towels and a man saying, “All you had to do was pay us enough to live,” according to KTLA-TV.

Ontario Police Department Cpl. Emily Williams said, “We have had reports that he did give some information on social media,” but that the department could not go into specific details, according to the TV station.

The blaze spread quickly and became a six-alarm fire.

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In total, 20 engine companies, 15 truck companies, about 175 firefighters, 17 chief officers, three investigators and two ambulances from multiple agencies responded to the building, the Ontario Fire Department said. None of the first responders was injured.

By 7:46 a.m., the fire had been contained to the building.

• Brad Matthews can be reached at bmatthews@washingtontimes.com.