1,500 crushed cars fuel fierce blaze in Antelope Valley

Thick black smoke billowed over the Antelope Valley Thursday as roughly 1,500 crushed cars burned at a recycling yard, according to the Los Angeles County Fire Department.

The Sheriff's Department confirmed that by 7 p.m. the fire had been contained.

A car crusher malfunction sparked a fire that consumed 10 acres of the 20-acre facility, said Capt. Sheila Kelliher-Berkoh of the L.A. County Fire Department. No injuries were reported.

The fire broke out at the facility on West Avenue H-8 at North Sierra Highway in Lancaster at around 3:30 p.m., according to local media reports . A third alarm, or request for additional resources, was requested, a department spokesperson told The Times, and the facility was evacuated.

At the height of the fire, the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department's Lancaster station issued a shelter-in-place order for the neighborhood between Division Street and Challenger Way north of Avenue I.

A video posted on X earlier in the day showed a massive cloud of black smoke blocking out the sky.

Air testing did not find levels of chemicals that could pose a threat to the health of nearby residents, Kelliher-Berkoh said.

This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times .