As of 4:30 a.m. Tuesday [PT], the hangar was still burning with fire officials concerned that the structure will completely collapse.
“It’s definitely not a normal fire, but today because of the complex fire operation, our incident commanders decided that they are going to use helicopters along with the truck companies,” said OCFA Captain Thanh Nguyen, noting that helicopters are usually deployed for large brush fires. “Our firefighters are situated outside [the hangar] and they are placing their units in the most advantageous spots to get water into the structure. Then, should the building collapse, they are not in the line of fire.”
Several of the base’s hangars were on fire by the time first responders arrived to battle the blaze, with the north hangar, also known as Hangar 1, reportedly being completely engulfed.
[I used to work a mile or two from MCAS Tustin for several years and often drove by those hangars, but that ended 26 years ago, too. I was not aware that the facility had been mothballed, though. In case anyone’s wondering, it’s not a likely target for terrorism, although more ordinary vandalism and/or arson might be in play. Abandoned/mothballed buildings are at risk for non-intentional fires, though, and I’d guess it’s likelier that the cause ends up being that. We’ll see. — Ed]
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