Disgruntled employee accused of lighting up Kimberly-Clark warehouse in California: ‘SHOULD HAVE PAID US MORE’
· Toronto Sun
A massive blaze tore through a warehouse in California after a disgruntled employee allegedly set off the blaze.
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Social media video posted by someone believed to be the suspect shows a person holding a lighter and igniting pallets of toilet paper in the Kimberly-Clark warehouse in Ontario, Calif., saying, “Should have paid us more,” before the entire building was engulfed in flames.
The warehouse was filled with paper products from familiar brands like Kleenex to Huggies diapers, which further fuelled the six-alarm fire.
The video shows the start of the fire, with flames melting through the plastic wrapping of Scott toilet paper packaging.
Chamel Abdulkarim, 29, of Highland, Calif., was arrested on multiple felony arson-related charges for fire that destroyed the 1.2-million-square-foot building on Tuesday.
He was identified as an employee of NFI Industries, which operates the Ontario warehouse site as a distribution centre for Kimberly-Clark.
“All you had to do was pay us enough to live,” the person can be heard saying in the video, as he walks through the warehouse, lighting up pallets.
“There goes your inventory,” he added.
NEW: Disgruntled employee starts massive fire at a 1.2 million square foot warehouse in Ontario, California.
— Collin Rugg (@CollinRugg) April 8, 2026
29-year-old Chamel Abdulkarim was arrested on arson charges for setting a Kimberly-Clark warehouse on fire.
Abdulkarim apparently filmed himself on Instagram setting… pic.twitter.com/VSpZKh3CgF
No injuries were reported
About 20 employees were inside the warehouse when the fire broke out around 12:30 a.m.
One person was initially missing, but was later accounted for. That missing person was the suspect, police said.
Forklift driver Alejandro Montero told KCBS that he had been with Abdulkarim shortly before the fire erupted around 12:30 a.m.
🚨 JUST IN: An absolutely TERRIFYING fire has erupted at a California warehouse in Ontario
— Eric Daugherty (@EricLDaugh) April 7, 2026
Firefighters are actively responding right now to the six-alarm fire
"It is all hands on deck as they try to contain the blaze." pic.twitter.com/GtoUDUa3vd
“I just met him that night. He was helping me load my trailer,” Montero said. “I was working together with him right there for two hours before break and then right at break… I went to my car, and that’s when it happened.”
Montero said the dock loader, later identified by police as Abdulkarim, was nowhere to be found after a head count was taken once employees evacuated the inferno.
“We lost our jobs — he did that to everyone. He put everyone in that position,” Montero said.
Another warehouse worker, identified only as Mike, told KABC , “It is going to affect us all the way around, no matter how we look at it.”
The fire chief said it took more than 140 firefighters to extinguish the blaze.
Abdulkarim is currently being held at West Valley Detention Center without bail.