Fire at Los Angeles Port Stops Container Traffic

Thick smoke from a smoldering fire started by a welder's torch at the Port of Los Angeles was preventing the movement of containers at the facility on Tuesday, because air conditions were too harmful for dock workers, officials said.

The fire broke out on Monday evening and burned about 150 feet (45 meters) of a wharf area at the Port of Los Angeles, which is the busiest seaport in the nation, and within less than two hours it was mostly extinguished, said Los Angeles Fire Department spokesman Brian Humphrey.

But the fire smoldered on because of factors such as the presence in the pier of creosote, a flammable, oily substance used as a wood preserving agent, Humphrey said.

The stubborn fire, which was characterized by high heat but not open flames, was sending off large plumes of smoke that could be seen and smelled from miles (km) away, and firefighters were prepared to spend hours more battling the fire, he said.

"These fires often take many hours or even days to fully extinguish," Humphrey said.

The smoke on Tuesday was preventing operations at the port's eight cargo container terminals, because air conditions were too dangerous for the hundreds of dock workers to continue loading and unloading containers, said port spokeswoman Rachel Campbell.

Operations were continuing at the adjacent Port of Long Beach, the second busiest in the nation, Campbell said.

The fire at the Port of Los Angeles was started by a welder's torch, said Humphrey, who did not have any other details on what kind of work the welder was handling at the time.

The fire damaged the wharf and caused a limited amount of damage to a warehouse, he said.

(Reporting by Alex Dobuzinskis; Editing by Cynthia Johnston and Sandra Maler)