Employee describes 'chaos' inside burning Ontario paper products warehouse

One of the 20 employees inside an approximately 1 million-square-foot paper products warehouse in Ontario when it was consumed by flames earlier this week described the chaotic moments as the fire spread.

The employee, who asked not to be identified, was outside a courthouse in Rancho Cucamonga Thursday, where suspect Chamel Abdul Karim, who also worked at the warehouse, was expected to make a first court appearance. Prosecutors said later Thursday that the case against the 29-year-old is pending review and an initial court appearance will be scheduled after charges are filed.

"It was just a lot of chaos," the employee outside the courthouse said. "A lot of people running around everywhere, seeing what was happening because it was in different locations that the fire was being set off."

In video posted on social media, someone appears to intentionally set several fires inside the Kimberly-Clark Corporation warehouse, including stacks of toilet paper. The person recording the video can be heard talking about their salary.

"All you had to do was pay us enough to live," the person recording the video can be heard saying multiple times.

Authorities have not provided details about a possible motive in the case, but said the video is part of the investigation.

Colleagues relied on warehouse jobs for their livelihood, the employee in Rancho Cucamonga said.

"You are ruining people's lives doing this," the man said. "There are things going on in the world right now, but you don't go burning a building down because your life is more important. You are just going to make others peoples lives worse."

The Kimberly-Clark Corporation said the distribution center was operated by third party logistic partner NFI Industries, of which Karim was an employee. It housed paper products that firefighters said fueled the flames for hours. The company said it is working to relocate employees to other locations and minimize the impact to customers and consumers.

Firefighters prevented flames from spreading to other buildings and a nearby neighborhood.

Kimberly-Clark is a consumer goods and personal care business that produces mostly paper-based sanitary products. Its brands include Huggies, Kleenex, Depend, Kotex and others.