Terminal operations returned to normal and what could be a weeks-long cleanup continued Wednesday after firefighters knocked down a fire that burned a wooden wharf under a warehouse and blanketed the Port of Los Angeles with thick, black smoke.
Some terminals were closed at the ports of Long Beach and Los Angeles Tuesday because of air quality concerns after the fire, which started Monday evening under a warehouse. The fire burned wood on the pre-World War II wharf treated with the preservative creosote, which can generate potentially toxic fumes.
The fire was extinguished early Wednesday after nearly 35 hours of active firefighting, according to the Los Angeles Fire Department. LAFD crews were mopping up "small amounts of smoldering" Wednesday morning.
Although the smoke had cleared by Wednesday, the cleanup effort continued.
"We have tons of debris -- literally tons of debris," said Arley Baker, Port of LA spokesman. "The little stuff can float. The big stuff is confined to the wharf area. And, that stuff is being removed by crane.
"But a lot of sub-structure that was damaged is being torn out. It's going to be a cleanup that's going to take place for at least a few days if not a few weeks."
Some parts of the "robust" structure date to the 1930s, Baker said.
"The warehouse has to be extensively surveyed in term of damage," Baker said. "We also had some steel coil that feel through the wharf. So as part of this clean up effort we're going to have to pull that steel back out of the water."
The twin ports of Long Beach and LA handle about 40 percent of America's import trade. Seven of the eight Port of Los Angeles container terminals were reopened with the 6 p.m. night shift, and the eighth was scheduled to restart work on Wednesday, port spokesman Phillip Sanfield told the Associated Press. He estimated a few thousand employees, mostly longshore workers, were sent home Tuesday.
At the neighboring Port of Long Beach, all six terminals were open and functioning again after three of them were closed for most of the day, the port said in a statement.
A welding accident Monday evening ignited the 800-foot-long wharf, which has a warehouse running most of its length. The wharf is part of a terminal that processes cargo that isn't confined to large, stackable containers.
The fire began at about 6:30 p.m. Monday on South Fries Avenue. Firefighters built a trench around the area that was burning to prevent the fire from spreading -- a tactic that proved to be a turning point in the firefight.
Stopping the fire's spread allowed the Los Angeles Fire Department to use helicopters and five firefighting boats to attack the fire on a 40-acre site where cargo ships dock. Dive teams fought flames from underwater and two Long Beach Fire Department boats joined the fight at the wharf, which is about 800 feet long and 50 feet wide.
The fire spread the entire length of the wharf, fire officials said.
More than 800 terminal employees were evacuated. No injuries were reported.
An air quality advisory prompted two schools north of the complex to close, but fire officials said the fumes were not considered toxic beyond the "immediate vicinity."
Capt. Jennifer Williams, of the U.S. Coast Guard, said foam used in the firefight and creosote residue was found in the waterway. A contractor was hired to clean up the pollution, which was detected during the Coast Guard's morning flyover, she added.
