Worker Accused of Arson After Filming Message About 'Unlivable' Wages — 'There Goes Your Inventory' Before Blaze

A California warehouse worker has been arrested on multiple felony arson charges after allegedly filming himself setting fire to a 1.2-million-square-foot Kimberly-Clark distribution centre while declaring that his employer had failed to pay workers enough to live on.

The blaze, which broke out at approximately 00:30 on 7 April 2026 at a facility on Merrill Avenue in Ontario, California, roughly 56 kilometres (35 miles) east of downtown Los Angeles, escalated within minutes to a six-alarm response. Around 175 firefighters from more than a dozen agencies across San Bernardino, Los Angeles and Riverside Counties battled the fire throughout the night, according to the Ontario Fire Department.

Ontario Police later identified the suspect as Chamel Abdulkarim, 29, of Highland. He was located and arrested near the intersection of Harrison Avenue and Limonite Avenue in Eastvale, several miles from the scene, and is currently being held without bail at the West Valley Detention Centre in Rancho Cucamonga.

'Pay Us Enough Not to Do This': What the Videos Showed

A series of social media videos, reviewed by the Los Angeles Times and independently obtained by KTLA and ABC7, appear to show a man using a lighter to ignite rolls of toilet paper stacked on warehouse pallets.

The videos, which appear to have been posted live from inside the facility, capture the fire spreading to surrounding stacks of paper goods.

In the first clip, the man filming can be heard saying: 'You know, if you're not going to pay us enough to afford to live, at least pay us enough not to do this.' In a subsequent recording, as fire alarms sound and evacuation instructions are relayed in the background, he continues: 'All you had to do is pay us enough to live.' A final video shows a warehouse corridor fully ablaze as the man states: 'There goes your inventory.'

Ontario Police Corporal Emily Williams confirmed that investigators were reviewing the footage. 'We have had reports that he did give some information on social media,' she told KTLA. Ontario Police have since confirmed to Patch that the video is believed to have been filmed by the suspect, a determination that will be made conclusively through the investigation.

A Six-Alarm Blaze That Overwhelmed the Building's Own Defences

Firefighters who entered the building reported conditions consistent with multiple ignition points. Ontario Fire Deputy Chief Mike Wedell, speaking at a press briefing covered by ABC7, said: 'Upon making entry, continuing to try to locate the scene of the fire, they quickly realised that there was fire throughout the structure. This fire was very quickly identified as suspicious in nature.'

Fire Chief Mike Gerken added that the speed at which the fire spread through a building of that scale was, in itself, a red flag. 'It definitely pushed our firefighters into that defensive operation and that was one indication that it could possibly be arson in nature,' Gerken told CBS Los Angeles.

The warehouse's internal fire suppression system was active when crews arrived but became compromised when a section of the roof collapsed, disabling the overhead sprinklers. The fire's fuel source was substantial: floor-to-ceiling stacks of highly combustible household paper goods burned with an intensity that forced more than 150 firefighters from multiple agencies to abandon interior operations entirely and shift to a defensive strategy, fighting the blaze exclusively from outside the perimeter.

Ash fell on residential streets in the surrounding Inland Empire, and air quality warnings were issued for children, seniors and individuals with respiratory conditions. Several big-rig lorries docked at the facility's loading bays were also destroyed. The building and its entire contents have been declared a total loss.

Abdulkarim Was Initially Listed as Missing; Co-Workers Were Shocked

All 20 employees present when the fire broke out were eventually accounted for. In the initial evacuation, however, Abdulkarim was reported missing, and colleagues expressed concern for his safety. NFI worker Alex Montero, who described himself as a recent hire of three weeks, told reporters he had spoken to Abdulkarim just moments before the fire started.

'There was no suspicion that it was him, actually he was missing. So everyone was trying to find him,' Montero told NBC Los Angeles. 'Everyone was blaming the robots at first. We were almost 100% sure it was the robots until the action in the video of course.' After the footage began circulating, Montero wrote on his Instagram account: 'He did do it!'

NFI Industries confirmed Abdulkarim as one of its employees and issued a statement through spokesperson Britny Francis: 'We are grateful that all employees are accounted for and no injuries have been reported. We have been informed that an NFI employee has been taken into custody, and we are cooperating with the authorities in their ongoing investigation,' Francis told Patch. The company added it was working to relocate displaced workers to other NFI facilities in the Inland Empire region. Ontario Police noted they had no prior contact with Abdulkarim, though his criminal history outside the jurisdiction was not immediately available.

One man's alleged rage at a pay cheque has left two dozen families without work and a building the size of 11 city blocks reduced to ash.