Fire Dept. Asks Public’s Help in 7 Arson Blazes

Confronted with seven similar arson fires at apartment and condominium construction sites in the last year, Los Angeles Fire Department arson investigators Friday asked for the public’s help in searching for clues that could link the blazes, or lead to the arrest of those responsible for setting them.

The plea came during an afternoon press conference held at the site of a Tuesday morning fire that caused $2.1 million damage and destroyed 60 units of a 114-unit condominium complex being built in Northridge.

As Fire Department officials spoke, a group of firefighters stood in the background near two fire engines, an arson unit truck and a ladder truck. Plainclothes arson investigators posted “WeTip” signs, offering a $500 reward for information leading to the arrest of the arsonist.

“We need a break; we need the public’s help,” Battalion Chief Bill Bisson of the arson unit told reporters as a Fire Department helicopter circled low overhead.

A task force of three arson investigators has been put on the case, but has not yet been able to uncover any information linking the seven fires and has few leads as to who set them, Bisson said.

It is essential, Bisson pleaded, that people who live near the construction sites who may have seen suspicious-looking cars or people in the area near the time of the blazes contact Fire Department officials.

The latest of the seven fires was set late Wednesday or early Thursday at a 20-unit apartment construction site in Canoga Park, Bisson said. It was the fifth of the seven Los Angeles fires in the San Fernando Valley and, like the others, it was set late at night at a building site that was in the “wrap stage”--when the wood frame is only partly wrapped in tarpaper and not yet protected by dry wall.

Unlike the other fires, which caused damage ranging from $800,000 to more than $2 million, the Canoga Park blaze died out shortly after it was set, causing only minor damage.

Deputy Fire Chief Donald Anthony told the city Fire Commission on Thursday that construction site arson has resulted in at least $10 million damage in the last year.

The series of blazes began with a fire that destroyed a condominium construction site in Pacoima on New Year’s Day, 1984, and another one a week later, also in Pacoima, that destroyed a building site on Sayer Street, fire officials said.

Also included in the investigation 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 a fire last July at a Van Nuys condominium project that spread to the neighboring Fickett Towers retirement center, destroying 14 apartments and leaving several couples homeless.

“We’re trying to find the commonality between these fires,” Fire Chief Donald Manning told the commissioners. “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 shared 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 over the last five years may be drawn into the investigation if common elements are discovered in the six fires currently being studied, fire Inspector Ed Reed told the commission.

“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 number of people to do the investigations, so we have to prioritize. It would seem that the rash goes back much further than just one year.”