Arsonists Hit Northridge Project Again

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.

The fire destroyed most of what had been left standing after the first arson blaze on Jan. 8, which caused more than $2.1 million in damage and destroyed two-thirds of the 114-unit project.

In response, the Los Angeles City Council Wednesday offered a $10,000 reward for information leading to the arrest of a suspect in connection with the Northridge fires or six other fires that have been intentionally set at major residential construction projects in Los Angeles during the past year.

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 latest fire managed to do so between the twice-hourly rounds of a security guard, who had been put on the site after the first fire on Jan. 8.

Both fires were reported a few minutes after 4 a.m.

Arson investigators said they had “some evidence” that both fires were set by the same person, but refused to discuss it.

Wednesday’s blaze at 17806 Kinzie St., just east of California State University, Northridge, was set in several places along the hallways of the three-story building. It took firefighters from 15 city Fire Department companies more than an hour and a half to put out the flames.

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

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

Two other firefighters were treated and released at the same hospital after one was injured when glass flew into his eyes and another stumbled and jammed a nail into his knee while battling the blaze.

Investigators said the building was ignited with a flammable liquid on the second and third floors. Construction workers at the scene said investigators discovered a gas can and matches sitting on wood-loading equipment near where the fire had been burning.

Investigators refused to comment on exactly what they had found.

“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,” said arson investigator Donald Brian.

Sean Brown, on-site superintendent for Fullmer Construction Co., the building’s general contractor, said the guard had finished an inspection at 3:30 a.m. and was just beginning another at about 4 a.m. when he noticed the flames.

Accidental Fire

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

Wednesday’s arson blaze raced through the remaining undamaged part of the building. The builders said they did not yet know whether any of the complex could be salvaged.

Superintendent Brown said he does not believe either of the intentionally set fires was simple vandalism, because the project had been remarkably free of damage before the arsons.

“Before the fire (last week), we had no problem on this site--no theft, no broken windows. Usually you get broken windows,” he said, noting that a project he helped build across the street had 30 or 40 broken windows before it was completed.

Investigators are searching for links among the eight arson fires that have occurred in Los Angeles since January, 1984. The blazes have caused more than $10 million damage, and fire officials have stepped up on-site inspections at other construction sites in an effort to prevent further damage.

“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,” said Councilman Hal Bernson, who represents Northridge and who proposed the City Council’s $10,000 reward offer.

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

“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.”

Information Sought

Arson investigators are asking the public to call (213) 485-6095 if they have any information about the fires. Bisson said investigators might have had to spend several days sifting through evidence about the Northridge site’s accidental second fire if they had not received a report from a passer-by that she had seen a wire sparking against the side of the building shortly before fire engines arrived.

Investigators now are following up on tips called in by several people, he said, but he would not elaborate.

Battalion Chief John Adams repeated Bisson’s plea, noting that Wednesday was the first time one of the intentionally set fires caused serious injury. Previous fires have caused dozens of minor injuries.

“We need any information we can get, because this has got to stop. Somebody is going to get killed,” he said.

After Wednesday’s blaze, firemen who were battling the blaze with the injured captain said he was “lucky” to have fallen through to the first floor.

“The fire was still burning on the second floor, and he could have gotten burned worse if he’d been there,” said one firefighter, who asked that his name not be used.

Tenants in an apartment building directly across the street from the fire said they want the building demolished--and soon.

“Until that thing all goes down, this will just keep happening. We’re really getting sure of that,” said Stacey Seidman, 22, whose third-floor apartment overlooks the burned-out wreckage of the site. “Nobody will be safe until they just take that whole thing down. We’ve had enough. We’re really getting upset here.”

Security Tightened

Owners of the other sites involved in the series of arson fires said they have tightened security since the attacks.

“We are looking for proper security measures right now,” said Hassan Mulla, part-owner of a 20-unit Canoga Park condominium project that was hit by arsonists late Thursday. The fire was extinguished quickly and caused only marginal damage to the building. “We have had no other problems,” he said. “We are really too small for anyone to want to take notice of us, but we plan on keeping better watch now.”

Two of the condominium projects being investigated as part of the arson series--one in Sylmar that sustained more than $2 million damage in a January, 1984, fire and another in Van Nuys last July that resulted in $2.25 million damage to both the project and a neighboring retirement complex--are owned by Murray Ozer Development Group in Encino.

The wood framing contractor on both the Ozer projects, John Chipinka of Kane Construction Co., said he has had more fires strike his projects in the last 18 months than in his entire 21 years in the construction business.

Besides the Sylmar and Van Nuys projects, which he said were essentially the same type of 52-unit condominium complex, someone tried to set fire to a 24-unit development on which he was working at Burbank Boulevard and Lindley Avenue about six months ago, Chipinka said.

“If we hadn’t had a man there, the whole project would have went,” he said.

Because he was working on two of the projects that were hit by arson, Chipinka said several friends called him after the Northridge site was set afire the first time to find out if the project is one of his.

“It’s weird. It’s like I’m getting some kind of a bad reputation,” he said.

Ozer company officials refused to comment on the incidents other than to say that they have had no other fire problems.

Builders who have not been affected by the arson said they are not anxious about the series of fires.

“Nobody seems to be scared, just angry, because the public relations for all our projects is bad when something like this happens. It gets people on edge,” said Tom Morris, manager for the Valley division of the California Building Industry Assn. “I don’t think developers get scared until it really hits home. They’re not all going to be running out and hiring guards.”

Jack Levinson, part-owner of Larrick Construction Co. in Chatsworth, said the cost of security may also play a part.

“On the larger projects, you would probably need a couple of guards for few months at night . . .. You’re talking $25,000 to $30,000 minimum, and that’s not peanuts if you haven’t got any place to pull it from.”

‘Locking Barn Door . . . ‘

Levinson said he always has recommended security measures at larger construction sites where he has worked. Fences, strong night lighting, alarm systems and guards were standard building costs at larger projects 15 or 20 years ago, he said, but seem to have fallen out of use as costs have risen.

“It all revolves around the fact that everybody is trying to make a profit on what they’re doing, and that makes sense,” he said. “But maybe they’ve only been lucky so far when it comes to vandalism and arson . . . . The ones who do the most security are the ones who’ve already been hit. I think it’s a lot like locking the barn door after the horse is gone.”

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.)