Incident: Commercial Fire at the Kimberly-Clark Warehouse
Apr 7
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
April 07, 2026, at 1700 PDT
FOR ADDITIONAL INFORMATION
Mike Wedell, Deputy Fire Chief/ Public Information Officer
Emily Williams, Police Corporal/ Public Information Officer
Incident: Commercial Fire at the Kimberly-Clark Warehouse
Ontario, CA, April 07, 2026 — The Ontario Fire Department responded to a commercial structure fire on Hellman Avenue in Ontario, California 91762. At 12:36 a.m., the first-arriving engine company encountered a well-established fire at a 1.2 million-square-foot concrete tilt-up facility operated by Kimberly-Clark, which serves as a distribution warehouse for various paper products. Additional resources were quickly requested, and a second alarm assignment was committed to the incident. After a brief initial interior fire attack, firefighting crews were pushed out due to extremely rapid-fire growth, transitioning to an exterior fire attack with high volume master streams. Ultimately the fire reached a six-alarm response, bringing a total of twenty engine companies, fifteen truck companies, two ambulances with supervisors, seventeen chief officers, three investigators, three specialized resources and approximately one hundred and seventy-five firefighters. The fire was contained to the building of origin. Complete extinguishment and overhaul efforts are expected to continue through the evening.
A thorough search for victims was completed, and one person was initially reported as missing. The outstanding person was later suspected to have started the fire in the warehouse and quickly located by Ontario Police Department personnel. The suspect was questioned by officers and subsequently taken into custody. The suspect is identified as Chamel Abdulkarim, a 29-year-old male resident of Highland and an employee of NFI Industries, a third party distribution company for Kimberly-Clark products. Abdulkarim was charged with multiple arson-related felony charges and is being held at West Valley Detention Center without bail. The Ontario Fire Department received assistance from several partner agencies to fully mitigate the incident.
The Ontario Police Department responded with several units for traffic control, drone operations, and to aide in the investigation efforts. San Bernardino County Fire, San Bernardino County Office of the Fire Marshal, Riverside County Fire, Riverside City Fire, Rancho Cucamonga Fire, Chino Valley Fire, Corona Fire, Montclair Fire, Colton Fire, Rialto Fire, LA City Fire, LA County Fire, and San Manuel Fire assisted with fire efforts. There were no injuries to responders.
If anyone has additional information related to this investigation, please contact Detective Ryan Ronveaux at (909) 408-1748 or rronveaux@ontariopolice.org.
Media inquires can be directed to Deputy Fire Chief Mike Wedell at (909) 395-2539 or mwedell@ontarioca.gov and Corporal Emily Williams at (909) 260-3293 or ewilliams@ontariopolice.org.
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