BAY AREA QUAKE : Studies Identify Public, Private O.C. Buildings That Might Be Unsafe

SANTA ANA — Five Orange County fire stations and an old firehouse that now is home to a senior citizens program in San Juan Capistrano probably would not survive a serious earth quake, according to a soon-to-be-completed study by county building officials.

And a separate report concluded that the county’s emergency communication center--on City Drive South in Orange--is built on ground likely to liquefy and crumble in an earthquake, while its emergency operations center--in a basement of the Santa Ana Civic Center--might be vulnerable in a major flood, county officials said Wednesday.

“That’s not a place where you want to put a hospital or a school or an essential facility,” Orange County building official Floyd C. McLellan Jr. said, referring to the communication center, which would provide a vital link between agencies such as police, fire and medical rescue teams in an emergency.

“There’s more care given to location these days than in years past (when the communication center was established),” McLellan said.

Several county officials confirmed Wednesday that a study coordinated by the county GeneralServices Agency several years ago noted flaws in the location of both essential facilities. A new site has been selected for both centers, which will be combined in a new building on a hill outside of the city of Orange, county officials said.

But construction on the new facility will not begin until next spring.

Charles S. Niederman, GSA director of facilities and property, said the study was completed before he joined the agency in 1987 and that he was not sure what role the study played in the county’s decision to move the two facilities.

“The architect was already designing plans to move the communications center in 1987 and shortly thereafter they added the emergency operations center,” Niederman said. “I don’t know how much more quickly they could have moved.”

Niederman said the county had decided to move the emergency operations and communication center as part of a larger overhaul of county buildings and that the study “probably had something to do with it.”

In a separate report, Niederman identified seven public and five privately owned buildings in the county as potentially unsafe in an earthquake because of their outdated designs. The buildings were constructed before 1950 and do not meet current earthquake safety standards, county building and fire officials said.

The report was done in response to a state law mandating that every locality identify all “unreinforced masonry structures” in its jurisdiction by January, 1990, and come up with a plan to raze the buildings or bring them up to code.

Niederman has given the GSA, which oversees building maintenance, as well as private owners, until mid-November to dispute his office’s findings or present a plan to eliminate potential earthquake hazards.

“They are fairly critical. Some are very active stations. . . . “

Assistant Orange County Fire Chief Bob Hennessey agreed: “They are part of our regional defense response in any emergency.”

Hennessey said Fire Department officials have commissioned an architectural consultant to draw up plans for overhauling the fire stations and hope to receive funding in next year’s county budget to begin actual construction work.

The most critical of the fire stations could be brought up to standard within a year or two, but it will probably take four or five years to overhaul or replace all of the stations, Hennessey said.

The report also named the Old San Juan Capistrano Fire Station, which is currently leased by the city of San Juan and used for nutrition and recreation programs for the elderly. Niederman said the county was in the process of notifying the city of San Juan that the building had been identified as potentially unsafe in an earthquake.

Thomas L. Baker, director of community services for San Juan Capistrano which oversees the programs, said he was unaware of it.

“Well, I’m going to have to talk to them about that,” Baker said. “That’s the first time I’ve heard about it.”

The privately owned buildings identified as potentially unsafe in an earthquake include a small stucco-manufacturing plant, a warehouse no longer in use and two agricultural buildings owned by the Irvine Co. outside the city of Irvine on Old Myford Road.

Larry Thomas, vice president of corporate communications for Irvine, said the buildings make up what use to be the old headquarters for the Irvine Co. and are under consideration as a possible historic site. Thomas said there is some confusion because there are more than two buildings at the site.

UNSAFE BUILDINGS

After surveying all public buildings in Orange County, officials determined that these could be unsafe in a quake:

Old San Juan Capistrano Fire Station, 31411 La Matanza, San Juan Capistrano. Houses city nutrition-recreation program for senior citizens. No longer a working county fire station. Sunset Beach Fire Station No. 3, 16821 12th St., Sunset Beach. Volunteer department; no sleeping quarters. Orange County Fire Station No. 20, 8663 Orange Olive Road, Orange. Volunteer department; no sleeping quarters. El Toro Fire Station No. 19, 23027 El Toro Road, El Toro. County fire unit, with sleeping quarters. Doheny Fire Station, 26111 Victoria Blvd., Dana Point. County fire unit; no sleeping quarters. Trabuco Fire Station No. 18, Trabuco Canyon Road, Trabuco Canyon. County fire unit, with sleeping quarters. County Facilities Operations Division, 1143 and 1145 E. Fruit St., Santa Ana. County building maintenance offices.