County Officials Tell Reason They Fear the Fire Next Time

The tallest building in Orange County stands 21 stories--about one-third the height of Los Angeles’ massive First Interstate Bank building which caught fire this week. But the prospect of a similar disaster nevertheless worries local firefighters, because their ladder trucks are useless past the eighth floor.

Although they have had little opportunity to put their skills to use, county firefighters for years have been practicing suppression techniques for high-rise fires, both in the classroom and in the field. Some county firefighters, dispatched to downtown Los Angeles Wednesday night to watch the battle against the deadly First Interstate inferno, got a firsthand view of what happens in such a disaster.

They found they had some more to learn.

“We were especially concerned with the problem of falling glass cutting up fire hoses,” said Battalion Chief Bill Dean of the Orange County Fire Department, which dispatched four fire officials to ask questions and shoot videotape.

The county’s fire departments are members of a countywide fire training association that offers high-rise firefighting training at least three times a year. Fire officials noted that most high-rises in the county--including the 21-story Center Tower in Costa Mesa--were built after 1974, when state law mandated installation of protective sprinkler systems.

“We would like to think we are as prepared as we possibly can be,” Anaheim Fire Division Chief Tim Riley said.

Despite their preparedness, fire officials said what worries them most is a fire high in one of several tall buildings constructed before 1974. As a rule, these buildings don’t have sprinklers, so firefighters--avoiding elevators as they did Wednesday in Los Angeles--would have to trudge up a dozen or so flights of stairs wearing up to 100 pounds of gear and dragging fire hoses.

“By the time you get up there, you’re so winded you’re not able to work,” said Fire Marshal Mike Doty of Anaheim, where fire officials have identified eight high-rises as not having sprinkler systems.

Throughout California, more than 1,000 high-rises are without the automatic sprinklers, state Fire Marshal James McMullen said at a Friday press conference in Costa Mesa, where the California Fire Chief’s Assn. was holding a gathering scheduled before the First Interstate fire. To correct the problem, the chiefs called for legislation requiring automatic sprinkler systems for all buildings in California that are seven stories or higher.

“The recent high-rise fire in L.A. only highlights and re-emphasizes the need and long-held concern of all fire agencies who must protect high-rises,” said Richard Bridges, president of the association, after the weeklong gathering of 200 California fire chiefs.

High-Rise Fires Decline

He said the number of fires in high-rises in California declined 56% from 1976 to 1986. He attributed the decline to the state law that requires sprinklers in all high-rises built since 1974.

But Bridges said he foresees “substantial opposition” from developers, construction firms and real estate lobbyists to the proposed, more comprehensive legislation, for cost reasons.

Controversy over mandatory water sprinklers has already erupted in Orange County. In November, county supervisors rejected the recommendation of Chief Larry Holms of the Orange County Fire Department to install sprinklers in newly constructed multiple-family dwellings. Supervisors acted after the county chapter of the Building Industry Assn. argued that such a system would significantly add to the cost of a home.

BIA officials said Friday they had no comment on the proposed state legislation because they deal only with new construction.

But concern prompted by the Los Angeles fire seemed to be having an impact Friday among some elected officials in the county.

In Santa Ana, where fire officials have identified 16 high-rises without sprinklers, Mayor Dan Young said he is a “very, very strong supporter” of immediately retrofitting pre-1974 buildings.

“I think we should work closely with the business community, . . . but I don’t think we can compromise on it too much, because we’re compromising our safety,” Young said.

In Anaheim, City Councilwoman Miriam Kaywood said she intends to bring up the subject of high-rises without sprinklers at an upcoming council meeting.

“Certainly that (Los Angeles) fire has focused everyone’s attention,” Kaywood said.

County Supervisor Gaddi H. Vasquez said he supported “the general concept” of retrofitting pre-1974 buildings with sprinklers but stopped short of calling for legislation that would mandate it.

Retrofit Questions

“Those devices are becoming increasingly important, given traffic and congestion (slowing down) response times,” Vasquez said. “I would support retrofitting . . . in some instances . . . once I had an opportunity to inventory what it would do to buildings, and the feasibility of it.”

John Petruzziello, fire chief of Costa Mesa, said owners of pre-1974 high-rises would not install automatic sprinklers without legislation. He added that for the past five years his department has held fire safety meetings with building owners and tenants in the South Coast metropolitan area.

Another problem area identified by state officials is lack of high-rise training for firefighters. State Fire Chiefs Assn. president Bridges called for support of an Assembly bill that would provide $1.5 million for firefighter training.

Fire departments are not required to train their firefighters in battling high-rise blazes, said Jack Bennett, fire chief of Menlo Park in San Mateo County and instructor at the state firefighters school at the Asilomar institute in Pacific Grove.

“Training should be statewide,” he said. “L.A. firefighters were highly trained. What would have happened to others around the state who are not trained?”

He estimated that fewer than 1,500 firefighters in California have been trained in fighting high-rise fires at the state’s school at Asilomar.

He said it costs a fire department $5,000 to send five firefighters to the weeklong program and pay for temporary replacements to fill their positions while they are in school.

“Not every fire chief has that kind of money in his budget,” Bennett said.

In Orange County, permanent fire training centers are maintained in Huntington Beach and Anaheim. The Anaheim center is maintained jointly by north county fire departments. The Huntington Beach center is maintained jointly by south and central county fire agencies. Both have a five-story concrete tower that is periodically set ablaze for exercises.

Familiarizing Themselves

The training is also conducted in real high-rises, where firefighters practice “running up and down the stairs” and familiarize themselves with such firefighting essentials as ventilation control, floor-to-floor communications and water storage locations, Anaheim’s Division Chief Riley said.

Even most buildings without sprinklers, fire officials said, maintain standpipes of water on each floor into which firefighters plug their hoses.

When they are not running through high-rise exercises in the field, firefighters go into the basement of the training centers and fight simulated skyscraper fires. These rooms are divided by a simulation screen upon which the image of a high-rise fire is projected, Riley said. Firefighters standing one one side of the room coordinate communications, while firefighters on the other actually “fight” the fire. If they make a mistake, the fire projected on the screen grows.

When they are not training, fire engine companies throughout the county carry in their trucks prearranged plans on how to fight fires at the high-rises built before 1974, Riley said. If a fire breaks out in one, he said, firefighters immediately know the layout of the structure and what to do.

The same cannot be said for some employees of those buildings. At the 10-story BankAmerica Corp. building in Anaheim, which does not have sprinklers, sixth-floor receptionist Brenda King, 26, admitted Friday that she did not know where the stairwells are.

Noticing an emergency evacuation plan posted on the door about three feet away from her chair, King added, “I think it would be wise to find out where the emergency exits are, just in case.”

Others Were Not Worried

Other employees in her building said they were not worried about working in a building without sprinklers.

Some of the county’s newest buildings have particularly sophisticated fire prevention and control measures. The 16-story Irvine Marriott, for instance, has sprinklers and smoke detectors in all rooms, as well as pressurized air in all stairwells, designed to blow smoke back out into hallways when doors are opened, according to Shirley Costello of the hotel’s engineering department.

The hotel also has a standpipe system on the roof, providing a ready water supply to fight fires on upper floors. On the ground floor is a fire command room, which enables firefighters to pinpoint the location of any blaze and operate other electrical and communications systems. The hotel was built two years ago with metal and concrete studs. Fabrics used in furnishing the 500-room hotel are fireproof. The grass that runs alongside the building covers a layer of concrete that can support fire engines and ladders.

Already kept busy with wilderness fires and residential blazes, county fire officials said the added dangers of a high-rise fire increase their workload that much more.

“They provide us with a lot more of a professional challenge,” Riley said.

Times staff writers Lonn Johnston, Bob Schwartz, George Frank, Mark I. Pinsky and Carla Rivera contributed to this story.