Fontana pallet yard and tire business erupt in flames

Eighty-foot flames licked the sky Saturday night in Fontana as a pallet yard and truck tire business erupted in a massive fire that burned three commercial buildings and sent one firefighter to the hospital.

About 60 units responded to the five-alarm fire that broke out about 6 p.m. in the 14000 block of Slover Avenue, just south of the 10 Freeway, said San Bernardino County Fire spokesman Otto Schramm. Engine companies, bulldozers, foam units and fire investigators swarmed the industrial area that sits on county land just west of Fontana. 

“This is probably one of the largest fires in a commercial structure in our county in quite some time,” Schramm said.

Three structures at the pallet yard were lost, and thick black smoke spewed from the burning tires. Three nearby homes were evacuated, but the only injury reported was a firefighter who was hospitalized with heat-related illness, Schramm said.

Firefighters expect to knock down the blaze by Sunday morning, when the investigation into its cause will begin.

-- Jason Felch

Photo: Firefighters repond to the pallet fire south of the 10 Freeway in a county pocket of Fontana. Credit: Francine Orr/ Los Angeles Times