No Injuries : Blaze Shuts Down Bank in Santa Ana

The nine-story Crocker Bank building in downtown Santa Ana was damaged considerably by a smoldering electrical fire Friday morning, causing no injuries but forcing the closure of the high-rise through the weekend.

Fire officials said a malfunction in the office building’s electrical system sparked the 6:30 a.m. blaze, sending dense smoke through several floors. Few of the building’s occupants had arrived to work before the fire broke out, officials said.

Employees of several offices in the 90,000-square-foot, concrete-and-glass building said they never saw flames but a few caught glimpses of fire flashes--”like fireworks”--on their way out.

The three-alarm fire created an eerie effect as lights flashed before going out completely, and loud “clacking” noises--presumably from electrical switches--rattled through corridors as the few early arrivers raced down an emergency stairwell to safety.

’ Close Encounters’

Those in the building at the time likened the experience to a scene from the science fiction movie, “Close Encounters of the Third Kind.”

“I could here all this banging and buzzing,” said attorney Theodore Howard, who said he fled the building, in part, to move his Porsche to safety.

“You could see the lights flashing off and on in the windows from the street,” said another worker, George Sherman. “It was weird.”

Property damage--the electrical system, carpeting and furnishings --was estimated at $250,000.

“Whenever you have electrical damage to such an extent, you’re talking about a large dollar loss,” said Santa Ana Fire Capt. John Chambers. “It requires a lot of work . . . I don’t think they’ll be able to open until at least Monday.”

Crocker Bank occupies the first floor of the building in the 1200 block of Main Street, where the bank employs about 30 people. Other floors are leased largely by the county’s housing and community development agency, financial companies, law practices and The Cutting Board, a small cafeteria.

Authorities said it was not known how many people work in the building, which some workers said is currently half-vacant.

Santa Ana fire officials, first alerted to the fire at about 6:40 a.m., said smoke was reported billowing from a ninth floor window and hovering along the building’s roof.

‘Electrical Problem’

A maintenance worker also telephoned a fire dispatcher, Chambers said, and reported flickering lights and a “possible electrical problem.”

Chambers said the fire apparently started on the seventh through ninth floors in the building’s electrical raceway, which transfers electricity from a basement power plant throughout the building.

Chambers said it was not clear how long the blaze smoldered before it was discovered. However, the first workers in the building said they noticed the blinking lights and noise about 6:30 a.m. The fire was extinguished about an hour later, Chambers said.

Police officers closed Main Street between 10th and 17th streets, diverting downtown commuter traffic to side streets. About 45 firefighters scurried in and out of the building, communicating with supervisors over a loud, echoing public address system. The road was cleared by 10 a.m., Chambers said.

Most employees learned of the blaze either from radio reports on their drive to work or when they arrived and saw the fire engines. At least two hours after the fire was put out, a large group of county employees gathered near an adjacent parking structure and waited to pick up their Friday paychecks but most were told to take the day off.

Chambers, acting as the Fire Department’s spokesman, said there had been some sort of fire in the building in the past year, but that he did not know enough about it to comment. Chambers said city building inspectors who had checked the structure Friday morning could not be reached for comment.

“It’s our every-six-months burn out,” said Kim Shettler, a planner with the county housing and community development agency. “Maybe now they’ll fix the elevator, too.”