Blaze Spurs Call for Sprinkler Laws : City May Require All High-Rises to Have Systems

In the aftermath of the fire that destroyed five floors of the First Interstate Bank building, Los Angeles political leaders called Thursday for ordinances to require older high-rise buildings to install sprinkler systems.

Fire officials concluded that the overnight blaze, which killed one and injured 40, might have been harmlessly contained in a trash can or a small room if a sprinkler system had been in place in the building, which was constructed in 1971.

Action Planned

City Councilman Nate Holden said he would introduce a motion today to require changes in the law that exempts buildings constructed before 1974 from installing sprinklers, saying he is not concerned about possible opposition from commercial real estate interests.

“I don’t anticipate any, but if they do (oppose the law), that’s their problem,” Holden said in an interview.

Other council members--including Marvin Braude, John Ferraro, Gilbert Lindsay and Zev Yaroslavsky--joined Holden in supporting, or expressing concern, over the sprinkler systems.

And the Central City Assn. of Los Angeles, which represents 230 major corporations downtown, voiced support for the reform.

“It makes a heck of a lot of sense,” said Chris Stewart, the organization’s president. “(This) fire proves, if you don’t have sprinklers, a fire can get away from you . . . even if you have a good warning system.”

“Sprinklers probably would have stopped the fire,” said Battalion Chief Ken Johnson of the Los Angeles Fire Department’s fire prevention unit, citing a 96% success rate in quelling fires in newer buildings that are required to have such systems.

“Almost all fires are held in containment or extinguished by three sprinkler heads. That means . . . a good-sized trash can or a small storage area might have been the most that would have burned.”

Although investigators had yet to pinpoint where the First Interstate fire broke out, it almost certainly began in south-facing offices on the 12th floor of the 62-story high-rise at 707 Wilshire Boulevard, Johnson said.

From there, the fire spread rapidly to the 16th floor, even as firefighters made the 10- to 15-minute climb necessary to drag hoses and other equipment up the stairwells, Johnson said. An automatic sprinkler system likely would have contained the fire in a small part of the building until those firemen were in position to handle it, he said.

Ironically, eight night workmen were busy installing such a system when the fire broke out late Wednesday night. All eight workers left the building safely, but the system they were installing was not due to operate until August.

Hundreds Exempt

The First Interstate building is one of hundreds of Los Angeles office towers that are exempt from state and city laws requiring fire sprinkler systems. Those laws apply only to high-rises built since 1974, when the statutes were adopted, fire officials said.

Today in Los Angeles, 512 high-rise buildings are legally exempt from the fire sprinkler laws, according to department statistics. Of those, fewer than 20 have installed sprinkler systems voluntarily, Johnson estimated.

By comparison, 244 high-rises have been built since 1974 and thus are equipped with the systems, he said.

“The same rationale that’s used to require sprinklers in high-rises subsequent to 1974 should have been used to (require them) before 1974,” said Holden, vice chairman of the City Council’s Police, Fire and Public Safety Committee.

Alluding to one maintenance worker who was killed when his elevator stalled on the 12th floor, Holden said, “A loss of life is never cheap. But this fire could have happened at a time when the building was fully occupied. Thank God it wasn’t.”

Yaroslavsky, who pointed out that there are no sprinklers in the City Hall office he occupies, acknowledged that they are “an incredible expense” to install, or retrofit, into existing buildings.

“(But) from every report I’ve heard, sprinklers would have made a difference” in fighting the First Interstate fire, he said. It is possible that a daytime fire would have been reported more quickly and easily handled, he added. But on the other hand, “if this had happened at 11 o’clock in the morning or at 4 in the afternoon, this thing could have been an unmitigated disaster in terms of loss of life. It could have been panic, pandemonium.”

Bankruptcy Threat

However, the cost of installing the systems could threaten some building owners with bankruptcy, particularly if they are leasing out their buildings under long-term agreements, Stewart of the Central City Assn. said. Unable to raise their rents, they would have to look for other sources of money to pay for the systems.

Stewart said he is hoping the Los Angeles Community Redevelopment Agency and perhaps the City Council will make available low-interest loans for the work, such as those available for meeting earthquake safety codes.

Transamerica Corp., which built one of the first modern fire sprinkler systems into its 1971 Transamerica Tower in San Francisco, ironically was hit by one of the largest office fires ever in Los Angeles in 1976, when an arson fire engulfed the 20th floor of the corporation’s 32-story office building, the Occidental Tower.

That blaze caused $1.5 million in damage and fire officials told reporters that the figure likely would have been much less if sprinklers had been installed.

However, they never were, even after the extensive cleanup.

Transamerica spokesman Richard J. Olsen said the firm had one thing in mind when it put the sprinklers into the $36-million corporate headquarters in San Francisco: “We felt that humans are our most valuable asset.”

But he does not know, he said, why sprinklers were never installed at the Los Angeles office complex.

“It’s not cheap, that’s for sure,” Olsen said. “(But) I really wouldn’t have any idea.”

DOWNTOWN TOWERS Fifteen of the 20 tallest office buildings in Los Angeles County are clustered downtown. Of these, nine have sprinkler systems. First Interstate was nearly done with a sprinkler installation, but it was not operational. Arco Towers, Union Bank and Arco Center (formerly Transpacific Center) are in the process of installing systems.

Height Has Building (in feet) Stories Sprinklers First Interstate Bank 858 62 No 707 Wilshire Blvd. Wells Fargo Center I, north tower 750 54 Yes (formerly Crocker Center) 333 S. Grand Ave. Security Pacific National Bank 735 55 Yes 333 S. Hope St. Atlantic Richfield Plaza (2 buildings) 699 52 No 515 & 555 S. Flower St. 444 South Flower Building 625 48 Yes (formerly Wells Fargo Building) 444 S. Flower St. AT&T; Tower 620 42 Yes 611 W. 6th St. Wells Fargo Center/IBM Tower 606 45 Yes (formerly Crocker Center) 355 S. Grand Ave. California Plaza I 578 42 Yes 300 S. Grand Ave. Citicorp Center 534 42 Yes 725 S. Figueroa St. Union Bank Square 516 41 No 445 S. Figueroa St. Wilshire Finance Building 496 36 Yes 1100 Wilshire Blvd. Arco Center 459 32 No (formerly Transpacific Center) 1055 W. 7th St. Los Angeles City Hall 454 28 No 200 N. Spring St. Transamerica Center 452 32 No 1150 S. Olive St. Broadway Plaza 414 33 No 700 Flower St.

Height is measured from sidewalk to roof, including penthouses and towers if they are enclosed as an integral part of structure. The number of stories is counted beginning at street level. Source: The World Almanac and Book of Facts 1988 and Cushman Realty Corp .

Compiled by researcher Tracy Thomas