Authorities say a predawn blaze destroyed the Ontario distribution site and sent a regional paper goods hub into recovery mode.
ONTARIO, Calif. — An employee of a third-party logistics company was arrested on suspicion of arson after a huge fire destroyed a Kimberly-Clark distribution warehouse in Ontario early Tuesday, sending 175 firefighters to the scene and leaving a 1.2 million-square-foot building in ruins.
The case has grown from a major industrial fire into a criminal investigation with broad local and business consequences. Police say the suspect, 29-year-old Chamel Abdulkarim of Highland, is being held without bail on multiple arson-related felony charges as investigators review witness statements, surveillance and videos that appeared online Wednesday. No injuries were reported, but the warehouse and its inventory were lost, and Kimberly-Clark said it activated a response team to limit disruption while authorities continue to examine how the fire spread so quickly.
Fire crews were called shortly after 12:30 a.m. Tuesday to the warehouse near Hellman and Merrill avenues in Ontario, where first-arriving units found smoke and flames already pushing through the structure. The building, packed with paper products, burned so intensely that crews later shifted to an exterior attack, surrounding the site with ladder trucks and pouring water onto the roofline and walls as the fire grew into a six-alarm response. Deputy Chief Mike Wedell said the blaze was identified as suspicious very early in the incident. By midday, firefighters were still battling hot spots, but they had kept the flames from spreading to nearby businesses. Officials later said the roof collapsed in part of the structure and the warehouse was a total loss. Several tractor-trailers at the loading docks were also damaged or destroyed as smoke drifted over surrounding streets and ash fell in nearby neighborhoods.
Authorities said about 20 employees were inside the building when the fire started, and all got out safely. One worker was initially reported missing during the evacuation, but police later said that employee had been located and became the focus of the case. Ontario police identified him as Abdulkarim, an NFI Industries employee who worked at the site operated for Kimberly-Clark. Officials first described him as a Kimberly-Clark employee, then corrected that account and said he worked for the third-party operator. Police have not publicly described a motive, and fire officials said Wednesday they still did not know whether Abdulkarim was actively on duty when the fire began, only that he was at the warehouse. Authorities also said tips from the community helped direct investigators to online material that may be relevant to the case. By Wednesday, officers were also examining videos that appeared to show someone setting small fires among stacked paper products inside the warehouse.
The scene became more striking as officials and workers described what the building held and how fast the fire took over. The warehouse covered roughly 1.2 million square feet, or about 11 city blocks, and stored household paper goods such as Kleenex, Scott tissue and Huggies products. Fire officials said the suppression system was operating, but the fire kept moving through the building because of the fuel load and because part of the roof gave way. Kimberly-Clark said the building is leased by the company and operated by NFI Industries, and that no Kimberly-Clark employees were on site when the fire began. The company also said no manufacturing assets were affected, a distinction that suggests the damage centered on storage and distribution rather than production. Even so, the loss is significant because the site handled inventory moving through Southern California, and the company said it had already started shifting shipments and lining up extra warehousing through local partners to keep serving customers.
The legal and investigative work is now moving on a second track. Officials said Abdulkarim was arrested on multiple felony arson-related charges and booked into West Valley Detention Center, where he remained without bail on Wednesday. NBC Los Angeles reported he is scheduled to appear in court Thursday, April 9. By late Wednesday, authorities still had not publicly laid out a detailed charging narrative, and investigators had not said how many ignition points they believe were involved. Wedell said the fire spread with unusual speed, and officials have said that early observations inside the warehouse raised concern almost immediately. Police have also acknowledged reports that the suspect may have posted information on social media before or during the blaze, but they have not released a formal evidentiary summary. Investigators are expected to continue reviewing witness accounts, facility video and any online recordings as they work to establish a full timeline of the fire and the decisions that led to it.
Outside the official briefings, the disaster has been filtered through the people who were there and those who watched it unfold in the dark. Alex Montero, a worker at the warehouse, told NBC Los Angeles he had spoken with Abdulkarim shortly before the fire and said he was stunned by the arrest. Another employee, identified by ABC7 only as Mark, said the loss would affect workers in every direction because the facility ran around the clock. Nearby resident Teri Cruz told ABC7 that the blaze was so large it pushed neighbors to flee. Those reactions matched the scale of the scene. Video from the area showed an orange glow above the warehouse before dawn and a broad column of smoke rising for hours after sunrise. Firefighters later used drones to help spot hot areas as crews worked from outside the unstable structure. By Wednesday, the fire had shifted from an emergency response to a guarded cleanup, but the building still stood as a blackened shell at the center of an investigation that was no longer only about fire behavior, but also about intent.
As of Wednesday night, the warehouse remained destroyed, the suspect remained in custody and investigators were still piecing together how the fire began and spread. The next public step is Abdulkarim’s expected court appearance Thursday, along with any new details police and fire officials release about the evidence in the case.
Author note: Last updated April 8, 2026.