The $500 million SoCal warehouse intentionally burned by a smirking arsonist is set to be demolished, city officials say.
It took 175 firefighters to extinguish Ontario’s 1.2-million-square-foot Kimberly-Clark paper goods warehouse allegedly set alight by a disgruntled employee who wanted higher pay on April 7.
A month later, city officials said the hulking ruin is set to be demolished, even as the charred site of the six-alarm fire near South Hellman Avenue and Merrill Avenue in San Bernadino County still smolders and threatens to ignite again.
“We have received calls regarding smoldering and potential fire activity at the Kimberly-Clark warehouse,” the City of Ontario posted in an online community update issued last week.
“Demolition by the responsible party is currently pending,” the message continued.
“Individuals with respiratory conditions or underlying health concerns should avoid the immediate area, if possible,” it warned.
Representatives for Kimberly-Clark, which leased the barned warehouse before the blaze and used it to store massive stockpiles of diapers, towels and toilet paper, didn’t respond to a request for comment.
Workers from the company were set to conduct a walk-through of the site Monday ahead of the start of demolition work, according to KTLA.
The warehouse itself was worth $156 million, according to Zillow. It was crammed full of paper goods when it was set alight. Federal prosecutors put the total cost of the blaze at half-a-billion dollars.
The disgruntled employee arrested for starting the massive fire that destroyed his company’s sprawling Ontario warehouse is being held in West Valley Detention Center in Rancho Cucamonga on several charges of felony arson and faces life in prison if convicted.
Chamel Abdulkarim, 29, smirked as he pleaded not guilty at his first courtroom appearance on April 13. He is next due in court in June for a preliminary hearing. On May 6 he waived his right to a speedy trial.
The Highland resident also faces a federal charge for arson of a building used in interstate and foreign commerce.
Federal prosecutors painted Abdulkarim as a radical leftist who set the fire as a political statement and said that he compared himself to alleged corporate health care assassin Luigi Mangione after setting the blaze.
Abdulkarim allegedly said “a lot of people are going to understand” his reasons for committing the arson and compared his crime to when “Luigi popped that motherf–ker.”
He also insisted the warehouse company “had it coming” and boasted, “I just cost the motherf–kers billions.”
Prosecutors said Abdulkarim’s motive for sparking the inferno was revealed in a clip allegedly posted to social media that shows the alleged arsonist setting the blaze.
In the viral video Abdulkarim can be heard chanting, “All you had to do was pay us enough to live.”
Abdulkarim was arrested by cops near the Kimberly-Clark warehouse while the massive fire still raged.
About 20 workers, including Abdulkarim, were inside the building when the fire broke out, according to police. He was initially missing but was quickly located by police and taken into custody.