Fricker Co. May Move Because of City Safety Order

The Larry Fricker Co. may have to consider moving its Orange County operations in light of a city order that the agricultural supply company’s fire-damaged warehouse in Anaheim is unsafe to occupy, a company spokesman said Thursday.

“It may be that with reconstruction costs, coupled with our losses, a more stringent policy from the City of Anaheim and adverse public reaction from the community, they (company officials) may just want to relocate,” said Peter C. Freeman, attorney for the beleaguered pesticide and fertilizer supplier.

The Fricker warehouse, site of a four-day fire last month that smoldered, spewed toxic fumes and led to evacuation of more than 7,500 area residents, was pronounced “safe” from chemical contamination on Wednesday by a U.S. Environmental Protection Agency official overseeing an emergency cleanup.

Called Unsafe to Occupy

A city building inspector, however, has determined that fire damage to the roof, steel framework and wiring of the 5,000-square-foot warehouse make it unsafe to occupy, according to Wayne West, head of Building Department.

Although fire damage was confined to roughly 30% of the single-story, cinder-block warehouse, West said Thursday: “That building should not be occupied at all. . . . We don’t feel (it) is structurally sound.

“They (Fricker officials) are going to have to retain the services of a licensed structural engineer to determine what has to be done to make that building structurally sound and prove it is safe,” West said. “It is their responsibility.”

Freeman, who walked through the damaged building for the first time early Wednesday, said the cost of repair to resume operations at the site on State College Boulevard may be prohibitive.

“We’ll have to look at the economics of the situation,” Freeman said Thursday. “We have no idea how much we’ve lost or how much can be salvaged. All the records are completely lost. So far, all we’ve been talking about is possibilities.”

City fire investigator Michael Doty gave an initial estimate of $100,000 damage to structure and contents.

However, because local and state agriculture officials have not determined which, if any, of the remaining fertilizers, agricultural chemicals and costly pesticides must be destroyed, company officials say it is too soon to tell how great the financial loss will be.

Already, Fricker is facing two multimillion-dollar lawsuits filed on behalf of residents and business people evacuated after the fire broke out on June 22. Two people were hospitalized for exposure to chemical fumes and 40 others were treated at area hospitals for throat irritation, coughing and headaches.

Freeman said the company is operating as best it can out of its satellite facility in north San Diego County. The company did not have insurance on the Anaheim property or its contents.

Community Opposition

Fricker has also become the target of community ire, both because of the lengthy evacuation and out of concern for the potential for future disasters.

Community groups in Placentia and Anaheim are actively opposing a resumption of operations by Fricker and are trying to draw attention to other businesses that may store potentially hazardous materials. About 200 residents staged a protest march late Wednesday to the building site near the Riverside Freeway in north Anaheim.

But Freeman said residents have been “grossly misinformed” about company operations and noted that most garden supply stores, including major hardware and catalog chains, stock the same pesticides and fertilizers.

“They seem to feel that there are all these inherently dangerous chemicals being stored in a negligent manner, and that it resulted in an unreasonable risk to individuals in the area,” Freeman said.

An Earlier Alert

“That is not the case,” he said. “These products were all being stored properly. The danger . . . came about because of the fire, which the Anaheim Fire Department has now recognized started in the office part of the building.”

However, while the smoldering fire was being fought, some fire officials said there were indications that some materials inside the warehouse were improperly labeled and possibly improperly stored.

Fire officials earlier confirmed that one city inspector alerted them last spring to possible fire-safety violations at the Fricker plant but that no follow-up inspection was made.

But city officials now have refused to comment publicly on those issues because San Francisco attorney Melvin Belli named Anaheim in a $101-million lawsuit he filed against Fricker on behalf of evacuated residents.

Freeman said he believes that when the cause of the fire is revealed, the Fricker company will be proved blameless for the fire that has been called Orange County’s worst environmental emergency.

The cause of the fire was being investigated by arson experts for the city’s Fire and Police departments, with assistance from agents of the U.S. Treasury Department’s Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms.