L.A. Fire Chief Upset at Losing Right to Inspect Buildings Run by State

Los Angeles Fire Chief Donald O. Manning has told Gov. George Deukmejian that he is worried that what he called “political interference” is threatening public safety in the dozens of state-operated buildings in the city.

Manning said he is concerned because the responsibility for fire safety inspections in state buildings in Los Angeles has been taken over by state inspectors, replacing city Fire Department inspectors who have been charged with the task for the last 19 years.

The question of who should inspect state buildings became an issue when State Fire Marshal James F. McMullen told Manning by letter in May that beginning June 1 state inspectors would take over the job. Manning first publicly raised the issue at Thursday’s Fire Commission meeting.

Capability Questioned

In a letter to the governor, Manning questioned whether McMullen’s office had the “intent/capability” to properly oversee inspection of state buildings.

“The action initiated by Chief McMullen has, in my professional view, potentially placed the public, who frequents state-owned/occupied buildings in Los Angeles, at a much greater risk level than is reasonably acceptable,” Manning wrote.

The fire chief pointed out that the Los Angeles Fire Department is charged with fighting fires in state buildings and that requires close coordination between inspectors and firefighters, who could now find themselves facing unknown and hazardous conditions.

He noted that McMullen had invited city fire inspectors to continue their safety checks of state buildings, but that henceforth they must report any violations to the state--a suggestion Manning said he rejected because “an inspector stripped of authority is useless and nonproductive at best.”

In Los Angeles, he said, the Fire Department has responsibility for protecting state buildings downtown and at three major universities, including UCLA, which has a daytime population of 50,000, a 950-bed hospital and 18 high-rise buildings.

Manning said movie companies often use state facilities to film major productions, and he said that without “appropriate safety precautions” such activity places occupants and buildings in “serious jeopardy.”

No Response to Request

After the state announced that it was taking over inspection, Manning said he asked for copies of all written inspection notices issued by the state and the corrections taken, but so far he said he had received no response.

“A reasonable assumption is that there has been very little action by the state fire marshal’s office,” Manning said. “I am very concerned that political interference is being substituted for critically important fire protection.”

In explaining the controversy to fire commissioners, Manning said, “I think it has to do with politics . . . because we came down on the museum.”

In 1983 and again in 1986, according to department records, city fire inspectors cited the State Museum of Science and Industry in Exposition Park for holding summer workshops for children in classrooms without fire protection.

According to Manning, museum Director Don Muchmore challenged the city’s jurisdiction and turned to the governor’s office and the state fire marshal for support.

“It is a jurisdictional dispute which we have no part of,” Muchmore said in a brief telephone interview Thursday. “I have taken no action as an individual or a state official to try to shift the responsibility from the city to the state fire marshal for fire inspection.”

Politics Denied

In Sacramento, Jean Jennings, deputy director of the fire marshal’s office, said the state’s decision to take over inspection had nothing to do with the museum or political interference.

She said Deukmejian had expressed an interest in the state having a larger role in fire inspection of state buildings in the past and had approved a budget increase to hire 10 more inspectors.

With the added staff, she said, McMullen decided to take back the inspection of state buildings, not only in in Los Angeles but also in Long Beach and Daly City in the San Francisco Bay Area.

She expressed confidence that 10 additional inspectors would be enough to handle inspection duties for buildings in Los Angeles, which required about 2,000 hours of city fire inspectors’ time annually.

“We worked out a formula where we feel we can adequately cover our responsibility in inspecting state buildings,” she said.