Probers Hunt Links Between Northridge Arson, 5 Similar Fires

Six similar arson fires at construction sites in Los Angeles during the past year--four of them in the Valley--have triggered a search for common elements that could show that the fires are linked.

Deputy Fire Chief Donald Anthony told the city Board of Fire Commissioners on Thursday that a blaze blamed on arson at a Northridge condominium construction site early Tuesday has prompted an investigation into the financial, insurance and labor records of several other apartment and condominium projects that have been hit by fires.

The Northridge blaze caused $2.1 million in damages and destroyed 60 of the 114 units under construction. As in the other fires under investigation, the Northridge building was vulnerable because its three-story wood frame was only partly wrapped in tar paper and no dry-wall work had been done, according to firefighters.

Anthony said arson at construction sites has caused at least $10 million in damages in the past year, starting with a blaze that gutted a condominium project in Pacoima on Jan. 1, 1984, and another a week later, also in Pacoima, that destroyed construction at a site on Sayre Street.

Also being investigated are a fire at a West Los Angeles condominium project three months ago, one at Laveta Terrace condominiums north of Dodger Stadium in October and one in July at a Van Nuys condominium project that spread to the neighboring Fickett Towers retirement center, gutting 14 apartments and leaving several couples homeless.

“We’re trying to find the commonality between these fires,” said Fire Chief Donald Manning, who also appeared before the board. “We know that all the projects were at the same vulnerable stage of construction and that they happened at night, but they do not seem to be localized.”

Investigators are checking to see if any of the projects share a common insurance carrier, bank or contractor and whether there were any similarities in financial or labor problems. Other construction-site fires that have plagued the city in the past five years may be drawn into the investigation if common elements are discovered in the six fires being studied, said Inspector Ed Reed.

“There seems to be a most definite series of fires here that we need to do something about and part of that would be a very, very strong investigation,” Reed said. “The problem is that we have so many arson-caused fires in this city and only a few people to do the investigations, so we have to prioritize. It would seem that the rash goes back much farther than just one year.”

Anthony said there was a similar string of fires at construction sites in the Camarillo and San Fernando Valley area about three years ago, which investigators believed were being set at non-union projects by pro-union arsonists. Although he said suspects were taken into custody, he did not know if there had been any convictions in the case. Anthony said he also does not know if sites now under investigation used union labor.

Officials of the Fire and Police departments will meet during the next few weeks to discuss how best to protect the city’s more than 500 multi-unit residential construction sites from arson, Manning said.

He said investigators are recommending that builders place night watchmen on construction sites during a project’s vulnerable period--between the completion of framing and installation of a sprinkler system. Fire officials may seek regulations requiring security personnel at larger projects during that three- to four-month stage, he said.

“It’s always been recognized that this is an extremely vulnerable time during construction,” Manning said. “You have it built to burn . . . (and) the big thing missing is a way to keep people out. There may be fences around the sites, but usually you can see that they have been run over by trucks and the gates are rarely in place.”

Manning hopes patrols and more inspection visits to construction sites will educate builders about the current danger and discourage further arson attempts. Anthony said fire officials are making lists of addresses of major construction sites.

Because the Valley continues to expand faster than most areas of Los Angeles, it is not incongruous that most of the fires at construction sites have occurred there, said Deputy Chief William Bisson of the Fire Department’s arson division.

“Ever since the Valley started really building more than 20 years ago, we’ve had this kind of fire periodically,” Bisson said. “Now, with a series of the same type of fire, what we’re trying to do is find out if there is some connection and find out what we can do about them.”