No Criminal Charges in Fricker Fire Case, Acting Chief Says

The Orange County district attorney’s office has concluded its seven-week arson investigation of the toxic fire at the Larry Fricker Co. in Anaheim and will not pursue criminal charges, the city’s acting fire chief said Friday.

“The district attorney (arson investigator) told us that he was not going to prosecute the case,” acting Anaheim Fire Chief Darrell Hartshorn said. “And if the district attorney doesn’t prosecute it, then that’s the end of the case.”

Chris Kralick, who heads arson investigations in the district attorney’s office, refused Friday to comment on the investigation of the June 22 fire at the agricultural supply warehouse that forced the evacuation of 7,500 people in three cities. He referred calls to Mike Feeney, an Anaheim fire investigator, who said late Friday that he had not heard of a decision by the district attorney’s office and insisted that “all the fish haven’t been reeled in yet.”

Hartshorn, however, said Friday night that the district attorney’s office would not prosecute.

Fire officials had regarded the fire as suspicious almost from the outset. About two weeks after the fire, for example, Anaheim Fire Investigator Michael Doty said he was “convinced it is arson. . . . We’ve eliminated accidental sources. It was intentionally set.”

Feeney, Hartshorn and other officials refused on Friday to amplify further on the investigation, citing multimillion-dollar lawsuits filed against the city and Fricker.

Both Hartshorn and Mayor Don Roth said they were disappointed that the investigation did not produce any arrests.

“I’m very disappointed in the actions of the district attorney’s office,” Roth said. “My concern is that unless these cases are really prosecuted and go into full depth, it aids and abets those arsonists who are running in California--those nuts who are torching places.

“The citizens should get a better shake on this thing,” Roth said.

The fire broke out in the office of the Fricker warehouse on State College Boulevard late at night on Saturday, June 22. It quickly spread into an area containing dangerous and highly flammable pesticides and fertilizers. For four days, city and county firefighters, assisted by a team from Huntington Beach, battled the stubborn blaze as it smoldered and spewed chemical fumes into the surrounding neighborhoods of Anaheim and nearby Placentia and Fullerton.

By midday on June 24, about 7,500 people were evacuated from area homes and businesses. Two people were hospitalized for exposure to hazardous fumes and 40 others were given medical treatment for such symptoms as shortness of breath, headaches and nausea.

A cleanup directed by the federal Environmental Protection Agency took 18 days and cost an estimated $250,000. Officials described the incident as the county’s worst environmental disaster.

The Fricker building remains closed. “They have considerable work to do on the building” before it is reopened, Hartshorn said.

Neighboring residents have picketed to protest the firm’s reopening and a company spokesman said last month that they may relocate.

In 1981, when Fricker was located in Tustin, more than 1,800 Tustin-area residents were evacuated during an acid leak at the firm. Workers cleaned up 3,800 gallons of phosphoric acid which leaked from a storage tank. Earlier this year, the Orange County district attorney’s office sued Fricker for $1.6 million, accusing the firm of illegally handling and disposing of toxic materials. The lawsuit, which is pending, charged the company with violation of the state Hazardous Waste Control Law.