MEXICALI – Roughly 80 firefighters and 15 emergency vehicles from the Heroico Cuerpo de Bomberos de Mexicali responded to a major warehouse fire in the Parque Industrial Calafia II on the city’s southwest side, battling flames for over four hours before bringing the blaze under control. The fire broke out shortly after 2:00 p.m. at a facility on Boulevard Lazaro Cardenas near the intersection with Calzada Independencia, sending a dense column of black smoke visible from the U.S. side of the border in Calexico.
The warehouse, operated by a plastics recycling company, contained large quantities of stored polyethylene and polypropylene materials that fueled the rapid spread of the fire. Employees evacuated before firefighters arrived and no injuries were reported, though two adjacent buildings sustained heat and smoke damage. Mexicali fire chief officials estimated preliminary property damage at approximately 15 million pesos ($830,000 USD), though the figure could rise once structural assessments are completed.
The cause remains under investigation by the Coordinacion Municipal de Proteccion Civil, but witnesses reported hearing an explosion inside the facility before flames appeared. Mexicali’s industrial parks, which house hundreds of maquiladoras and warehouses along the border corridor, have experienced several significant fires in recent years, including a 2024 blaze at the PIMSA Industrial Park that sent smoke across the international boundary and prompted air quality warnings in Imperial County, California.
Air quality monitors in Calexico registered elevated particulate matter readings during the fire, and the Imperial County Air Pollution Control District issued a brief advisory for sensitive groups on the U.S. side. For American residents and cross-border commuters in the Mexicali-Calexico area, industrial fires in the border zone remain a recurring concern, as prevailing winds frequently carry smoke northward. The city’s emergency services number is 911, and the Proteccion Civil Mexicali hotline is (686) 558-1690.