Fire Chief to Propose Listing of Toxic Materials

Even before 500 people were evacuated during Sunday’s chemical fire in Newport Beach, Fire Chief Jim Reed had written a report proposing a new, mandatory hazardous materials disclosure program.

Reed said Monday that he is scheduled to discuss his proposal with City Manager Robert L. Wynn this week and that the City Council may be asked to vote on the matter next week.

Under a 1985 state law, the city must adopt its own hazardous materials inventory program or turn the task over to county or state officials.

In the absence of a mandatory program, Reed said, he has been informally collecting information on hazardous materials stored within the city as his crews complete routine fire safety inspections. When firefighters went to the metal-finishing company gutted by fire Sunday, they had a list of chemicals the firm had provided during an inspection, Reed said.

“It was very helpful,” the Newport Beach chief said Monday. “We knew what we were up against and what precautions to take for our men on the fire, and in considering that when you pour a lot of water on a fire, it can put a lot of corrosives into the bay.”

But that is small comfort to the dozens of families evacuated Sunday who were still unable to return to their homes Monday, long after the fire had been put out. Some complained that they had no idea there was a potential hazard so close by.

“I thought it was a wood place, that they made cabinets,” said Moe Ghaemi, 23, a resident of the evacuated Newport Villa apartments on Placentia Avenue. “At first we were happy (that the plant was put out of business by the fire). Then we found out about the chemicals” being still in the area mixed with the water.

Reed acknowledged Monday that Newport Beach residents have little access to information about where hazardous chemicals are stored. Even if someone were to come into his office and ask about a specific address, Reed said, he could not give out the name of the chemicals involved because the businesses consider such information a “trade secret.”

There is no master list of the 300 companies from which he has obtained information informally, Reed said.

The lack of public access would change under the program Reed has proposed to city officials. Like the county’s mandatory disclosure program and similar projects in other Orange County cities, Reed’s plan would allow residents to inquire about specific addresses and receive a list of chemicals stored there. Once the Fire Department receives such a request, Reed said, the company storing the chemicals would be notified that they had 30 days in which to obtain a court order blocking disclosure based on concerns about proprietary manufacturing processes or “trade secrets.”

The county’s mandatory disclosure program, adopted by the Board of Supervisors in October, 1985, has resulted in a list of 1,200 addresses where hazardous materials are stored or used, according to Sylvan Hersh, manager of the county Hazardous Materials Program.

Hersh added that the county fire chief’s Fire Prevention Assn. is working on a program to have cities join the county in placing all information on toxics in a single, computerized data file.