Three-Alarm Blaze Engulfs Manufacturing Plant In Orange

ORANGE (CBSLA) – An oil leak may have been responsible for a three-alarm blaze which tore through a large commercial plant which manufactures aircraft parts in the city of Orange overnight Tuesday.

The blaze was reported at 1:23 a.m. Wednesday at a warehouse belonging to Quality Aluminum Forge in the 800 block of North Cypress Street.

Orange Fire Department crews arrived to find the fire raging, immediately upgraded the blaze to three alarms and took a defensive position.

According to its website, Quality Aluminum Forge manufactures parts for aerospace, commercial and defense industries. Crews were forced to keep a close watch on hazardous materials inside the building, including a propane tank. Fortunately, those materials did not pose a factor.

It took 55 firefighters from multiple agencies about one hour to bring the flames under control.

There were employees working inside the building at the time the fire broke out, but they all got out safe and there were no injuries, the fire department said.

Employees told officials that an oil leak is likely what started the blaze.

"There was a hydraulic line break that may have atomized hydraulic fluid and contacted a hot surface," Orange Fire Department Capt. Ian MacDonald told CBS2. "Investigators are confirming that information now, but those are our initial reports."

The cause remains under investigation. There was no word on the exact extent of the damage.