Some San Fernando Valley residents who were ordered to vacate their homes were slowly allowed to return Saturday morning following a controlled burn operation that stemmed from the discovery of illegal fireworks that caused an explosion at a home.
On Thursday, a Pacoima neighborhood was rocked by a home explosion that left a 24-year-old man critically injured, according to the Los Angeles Fire Department. After discovering there were more illegal explosives on the property, officials decided to detonate the materials through a controlled burn.
Guy Tomlinson, LAFD Assistant Chief, said the decision to go that route was made because the accessory dwelling unit (ADU) on the property that was housing the explosives no longer had integrity, as he described it.
“As you saw in the initial explosion, the building had collapsed in on itself, so it wasn’t safe to actually be inside of it,” he said. “The materials that were stored in there were all illegal … So the safest way to handle it was to initiate a control burn and let it burn all the way off.”
A little more than 60 homes were under an evacuation order, frustrating community members. On Saturday morning, officials were allowing some residents to return to their homes and they reopened some streets. Police said repopulation for the neighborhood would be cleared at 5 p.m. Saturday.
Although the controlled burn has been completed, work for officials on the matter will carry on.
Dozens of families were evacuated out of their homes in Pacoima on Thursday in preparation of controlled burn of explosives by authorities. Eliana Moreno reports for the NBC4 News at 11 p.m. on March 21, 2025.
“The continued steps are air monitoring, making sure the community’s still safe,” Tomlinson said. “Since midnight last night, the air sampling has been all back to normal range.”
He explained the burn that was seen Saturday morning was to control runoff from hazardous materials that could have mixed with water coming from the property.
“We did not apply any water to the structure, so there is no hazardous water in that runoff as of yet,” Tomlinson said. “So, we’re protecting the storm drain system and then we’re also controlling where that water could go so we don’t have any additional hazardous materials or any issues down range from the incident.”
Law enforcement may preserve the home where the explosives were stored for future investigations or possible criminal charges. Police are investigating whether the man who was injured is a victim in the case or a suspect.
The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) is investigating the case as a criminal matter.
