Fire destroys World War II Blimp Hangar in California
A fire on Tuesday destroyed a wooden hot air balloon hangar in Tustin, California, that played a crucial role during World War II, authorities said, leaving the monument in flames all day.
Chief Brian Fennessy of the Orange County Fire Authority said at a news conference Tuesday morning that more than 70 firefighters responded about 1 a.m. to try to contain the blaze in one of the two hulking hangars at the former Marine Corps Air Station Tustin.
After their initial efforts failed to extinguish the fire in the north hangar, Chief Fennessy said, firefighters deployed three helicopters to extinguish the large domed building from above, a method more commonly used to battle large-scale wildfires.
But that strategy also backfired, prompting officials to let the structure burn rather than endanger more firefighters, Chief Fennessy said.
With a height of 17 floors, a length of 300 meters and a width of 90 meters, the hangars are among the largest wooden buildings from the 20th century.
“We can’t get close enough to that building without fear of it collapsing on our firefighters,” Chief Fennessy said, adding, “Our use of aircraft on a structure like this is extraordinary.”
No injuries were reported and the cause of the fire remained under investigation Tuesday, authorities said. The north hangar was “generally empty,” Tustin Mayor Austin Lumbard said at the news conference.
Officials noted at the news conference how disturbing it was to see a building with such a history languish in flames, especially since so many local residents had ties to the hangar, either because family members had once worked at the camp or simply because they view the enormous structure with reverence.
Late Tuesday morning, parts of the hangar began to collapse. Videos and photos posted on social media, firefighters showed flames engulfing traversed wooden beams, causing part of the blackened roof to collapse and releasing a plume of ash.
“It is a sad day for the city of Tustin,” said Chief Fennessy, noting that the monument had long served as an emblem of the city’s contributions during World War II.
Officials in Tustin, a city of about 79,000 about 35 miles southeast of Los Angeles, had recently tried to preserve the hangar and had been in contact with the U.S. Navy, which owns the building, Mr. Lumbard said.
The base was built in 1942 as the Santa Ana Naval Air Station and housed zeppelins that “were used to patrol the U.S. coastline, primarily to watch for enemy submarines.” according to the Tustin Area Historical Society.
In 1951, the base was reactivated to support the military during the Korean War, becoming the first air facility developed solely for helicopter operations. The base was used for Marine Corps helicopters in the 1990s before closing in 1999.
In 1975 the north hangar and the south hangar were added were designated as national monuments by the U.S. National Archives and Records Administration and added to the National Register of Historic Places.