Two people aboard a small plane were killed when their aircraft crashed into a commercial warehouse near Fullerton Municipal Airport, bursting into flames and injuring 19 people working in the facility, officials said.

Security camera footage captured a fireball exploding Thursday afternoon when the plane hit the roof of the warehouse, sending thick clouds of dark smoke and bright orange flames into the sky.

Audio prior to the crash indicated that the flight went suddenly wrong.

Coroner’s officials are still working to identify the victims in the incident, the Orange County Sheriff’s Department said Friday.

National Transportation Safety Board investigators were to return to the area Friday to try to determine why the single-engine planed crashed just a few minutes after taking off from the airport.

Two people were killed and 19 injured when the plane struck the warehouse; a triage area was set up near the building, officials said.

The crash was reported in the 2300 block of Raymer Avenue at 2:09 p.m. Thursday, prompting the evacuation of more than 100 people from the building and the establishment of a nearby triage area, according to the Fullerton Police Department.

The crash occurred about half a mile from the Fullerton airport, and officials identified the aircraft as an experimental, single-engine Van’s RV-10.

At 3:25 p.m., Fullerton police Lt. Tim Kandler said the fire was extinguished.

Eleven people were taken to hospitals and eight were treated and released at the scene, according to Fullerton police.

Firefighters respond to the plane crash near the Fullerton Airport on Thursday afternoon.

Data from flight-tracking service FlightAware showed a plane leaving the airport at 2:07 p.m. before its flight ended at 2:09, which is the time that police said they received a notification about a plane crash.

The plane had just taken off when the pilot announced that an immediate landing was required, according to audio from the air traffic control tower.

In the audio, the pilot initially says he is going to land on Runway 6, prompting the controller to tell another aircraft to turn away from that area. The controller tells the pilot that either Runway 6 or 24 are clear for landing.

The pilot then says he is going to land on Runway 24. Less than a minute later, panicked gasping and an “Oh, my God” can be heard before the pilot’s audio goes quiet.

According to FAA data, the plane was registered to a Huntington Beach resident.

Federal investigators will be looking into what made the pilot decide to land back at the airport and determine if it was an engine failure or a fuel issue, aviation expert Bert Botta said.

They will also review the plane’s mechanical conditions and the pilot’s flight history and medical condition.

The pilot was flying a single-engine Van’s RV-10 experimental aircraft, meaning it was built by an individual and not put together by a large manufacturer, Botta said, a retired airline captain for TWA who is now a legal aviation expert.

“It doesn’t mean that he’s out flying around trying to find out whether it’s going to fall out of the sky or not by experimenting with things,” he said. “There’s a number of them that have been sold and been built by Vans aircraft, and most of them are very reliable and still flying to this day.”

Robert Ditchey, an aviation expert with training as an accident investigator, said the probe will likely involve local agencies cooperating with federal investigators. He is not involved in the investigation of the crash.

The NTSB will likely receive assistance from the FAA and investigators will likely reach out to the manufacturers of the engine and airframe, along with any other equipment makers.

While the investigation is in its early days, Ditchey said the public can still consider air travel generally safe.

“General aviation is still quite safe compared to other forms of transportation and other ways in which accidents occur,” Ditchey said.

The latest incident isn’t the first plane crash to happen near or out of the Fullerton airport in recent decades and illustrates some of the inherent risks that come with a municipal airport situated within a suburban landscape.

In April 2000, a small private plane clipped a power line and dived into a home in Fullerton, killing the pilot and engulfing the unoccupied home in flames. Less than two years later, a pilot slammed into the ground shortly after takeoff from the airport and died in the crash but managed to miss nearby homes and yards.

In December 2004, a couple died after their rented single-engine Cessna crashed into a radio tower while it was making its descent into Fullerton Municipal Airport. They were thrown from the cockpit and killed instantly. No one else was injured in the crash, but nearby buildings were damaged.

In September 2019, a plane crashed into a Yorba Linda neighborhood after taking off from Fullerton Airport, resulting in the deaths of himself and four others on the ground.

“There are too many houses around here for a purely recreational airport. It’s happened before, and we’re going to have to start doing something. Every time you hear the planes, you expect them to go into the walls. When they pass, you breathe easier,” Richard Fowler, who lived near the home, told The Times after the crash.

Fullerton Mayor Pro Tem Shana Charles pointed out that Fullerton’s is the only municipal airport left in Orange County, meaning that if small plane crashes happen anywhere in the county, it will be in Fullerton.

But since another plane crash happened about two months before Thursday’s crash, in which the pilot and passengers were injured but not severely harmed, Charles emphasized the need for more oversight to make sure similar incidents don’t happen in the future.

Whether that’s making sure the entryway for the landing strip is safer or more education for pilots, only time will tell, she said.

“We need to make sure that we’re doing everything on our side to make sure things are safe for not only the people in the air but on the ground,” she said.

Multiple agencies worked together to respond to the incident. They included the Fullerton police and fire departments; Buena Park police; La Habra police; Burlington Northern and Santa Fe Railway police; Cal State Fullerton police; and fire personnel from Brea, Anaheim and Huntington Beach as well as the Orange County Fire Authority.

Fullerton Mayor Fred Jung thanked first responders in a Thursday evening statement on behalf of the City Council.

“As we come together in the wake of this tragedy, the city of Fullerton is committed to providing support for all those affected and working with the agencies involved to uncover the details of this incident,” Jung stated. “We are grateful for the strength of our community and the compassion we show one another in times of crisis. Together, we will move forward with resolve, care, and unity.”

Times staff writer Andrew J. Campa contributed to this report.