Officials have lifted the evacuation and shelter-in-place orders triggered by a chemical fire at an industrial building in Simi Valley on Tuesday morning.
Ventura County firefighters and Simi Valley police responded to 101 W. Cochran St. at around 6:15 a.m. after an employee reported that some tanks filled with nitric acid were on fire, Sgt. Patrick Zayicek said.
A number of 75-gallon drums containing nitric acid were burning inside a building, Ventura County fire Capt. Anthony Romero told the Los Angeles Times.
The blaze, which sent plumes of smoke over the area, caused the evacuation of surrounding businesses. The nearby Costco store was closed, and residents were asked to shelter in place and close their windows and doors.
The businesses affected have since been allowed to reopen, Capt. Anthony Romero said through Twitter at a 11:34 a.m.
“The fire has been contained and controlled to the building… You may smell smoke in the area, but there’s no immediate threat to our citizens,” Romero said.
Roads were expected to reopen at around noon. No injuries were reported.
#CochranInc: Visit https://t.co/BQpI7n1p8O for current information and an interactive, incident map. Type your address into the map to see if you’re part of the shelter in place zone #VCAlert #SimiValley #HazMat @Ventures pic.twitter.com/vJY5ogCZMs
— VCFD PIO (@VCFD_PIO) June 25, 2019
#CochranInc #SimiValley. Here is the approximate area of the shelter in place notifications sent out by @Venturaoes to nearby residents. When it’s safe to return outdoors, an additional message from #VCAlert will be sent. pic.twitter.com/gVcSpKDtsy
— Ventura County Fire (@VCFD) June 25, 2019
KTLA’s Nancy Fontan contributed to this report.