Council Posts a Reward in Rash of Fires

The second pre-dawn arson fire in eight days struck the same Northridge apartment construction project Wednesday, injuring three firemen, one seriously, and causing an additional $500,000 damage to the gutted complex.

After the latest blaze--the eighth arson fire at a major residential construction site in Los Angeles in the last year--the City Council offered a $10,000 reward for information leading to the arrest of a suspect or suspects.

Late Wednesday, yet another suspicious fire broke out in a condominium complex being built in the city of Glendale. The blaze was quickly extinguished by firefighters, but at least three units in the 18-unit complex were destroyed, authorities said.

The Northridge project’s on-site superintendent said that whoever started the fire managed to do so between the twice-hourly rounds of a security guard, who had been put on the site after the first blaze, on Jan. 8, caused more than $2.1-million damage and destroyed two-thirds of the 114-unit complex.

Fire Department arson investigators said they had some evidence that both fires were set by the same person, but declined to elaborate.

Set in Several Places

Investigators said they are looking into the financial background, insurance and labor relations of the Northridge complex and the other projects damaged by arson.

Wednesday’s blaze was set in several places along the hallways of the three-story building at 17806 Kinzie St. It took firefighters from 15 Los Angeles Fire Department engine companies more than an hour and a half to put out the flames, which were first reported around 4 a.m.

Fire Capt. William Huff was seriously injured when he tumbled from the third to the first floor of the complex after brittle wood flooring gave way.

Huff, 47, who suffered a broken back and ribs and a collapsed lung, was in serious but stable condition at Northridge Hospital Medical Center.

Two other firefighters were treated for minor injuries and released.

Investigators said the building, east of the Cal State Northridge campus, was ignited with a flammable liquid on the second and third floors.

Construction workers said arson investigators discovered a gas can and matches on wood loading equipment. Fire officials, however, declined to confirm that.

“We don’t yet know how many spots it was started in and we don’t yet know what type of liquid was used. We leave that up to the lab,” arson investigator Donald Brian said.

Sean Brown, on-site superintendent for Fullmer Construction Co., the building’s general contractor, said the guard had finished his most recent inspection at 3:30 a.m. and was just beginning another when he noticed the flames.

Complicating fire investigators’ problems was an accidental fire that broke out Tuesday at the same project. Electrical wiring rubbed against metal scaffolding next to the building, leading to a blaze that caused $150,000 damage to a previously unaffected corner of the complex, investigators said.

Wednesday’s blaze raced through the remaining undamaged portion of the structure.

The eight arson fires at construction sites in Los Angeles since January, 1984, have caused more than $10 million damage, and fire officials have stepped up inspections at other projects in an effort to prevent further damage.

Arson Battalion Chief William Bisson said agents from the arson task force of the federal Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms Bureau are helping his investigators collect background information on the series of blazes.

“We’re just starting to break these things down,” Bisson said. “We’ll probably start doing interviews with the owners in the previous fires within the next few weeks.”

Arson investigators are asking the public to call (213) 485-6095 if they have any information about the fires.

“The repeated acts of arson at construction sites constitute an ongoing menace to the community at large, to city firefighters, and to the ongoing and necessary process of providing additional housing in Los Angeles,” Councilman Hal Bernson, who represents Northridge, said in proposing the $10,000 reward offer to the council.

The Glendale blaze was reported shortly before 10 p.m. Wednesday at the Franklin Court condominium development on Harvard Street at Franklin Court. The complex consists of three, six-unit sections. The front section of residences was in the framing stage and that was where the blaze erupted, destroying the third floors and attics of at least three units.

Arson investigators were sent to the scene, Glendale fire officials said. No injuries were reported.

Also contributing to this story were Times staff writers Allan Jalon and Rich Simon.