Kimberly-Clark toilet paper warehouse in California destroyed by fire; employee arrested

ONTARIO, California - A Kimberly-Clark employee has been arrested on arson charges after a massive fire broke out on the morning of April 7 at a California distribution centre that serves around 50 million people.

The 1.2 million sq ft facility – located in Ontario, about 56.3km outside of Los Angeles – houses facial tissue and toilet paper, according to a local Fox report.

Ontario Deputy Fire Chief Mike Wedell told Bloomberg News the building’s roof completely collapsed and all products inside were destroyed.

Photos from the scene showed the entire building engulfed in flames. The blaze reached a six-alarm response, involving around 175 firefighters, the Ontario Fire Department said.

The fire was contained to the building of origin, and complete extinguishment is expected to continue through the evening of April 7, according to the department. 

The department also said it had identified a suspect: Chamel Abdulkarim, an employee of NFI Industries, a third-party logistics provider for Kimberly-Clark products. 

Abdulkarim, 29, was initially reported as missing and was “later suspected to have started the fire in the warehouse and quickly located by Ontario Police Department personnel”, the department said.

He faces multiple arson-related felony charges and is being held without bail at West Valley Detention Centre, it said. 

“This fire was suspicious in nature from the initial stages,” Mr Wedell told Bloomberg earlier.

Kimberly-Clark said in a statement that there were no reported injuries. The company’s shares fell 4.1 per cent on April 7.

Analysts warned that the fire could lead to supply problems in the region. 

The blaze “risks West Coast supply shortages for more than 3 per cent of sales” at Kimberly-Clark’s US business and could raise transportation costs, according to a note from Ms Diana Gomes, a Bloomberg Intelligence senior industry analyst.

Piper Sandler analyst Michael Lavery wrote in a note to clients that the level of disruption is “difficult to gauge” at this point, but warehouses and mixing centres in the area frequently supply products to large markets in Northern California, Arizona and Nevada.

He is not planning to update his financial projections for the company “without better visibility on the magnitude and duration of the impact of any potential disruptions”.

In November, Kimberly-Clark, which sells the Huggies diaper and Kleenex tissue brands, said it had agreed to buy Tylenol maker Kenvue Inc. BLOOMBERG