Wieder Calls Quake Safety Meeting

Expressing fears that Orange County is not adequately preparing for a major earthquake, Supervisor Harriett M. Wieder said Tuesday that she has called a meeting of county emergency planners and city officials in her district.

Wieder said a study by a consultant warning that one-third of the county’s fire stations might not survive a serious temblor raises troubling questions about the soundness of all important county facilities, including bridges and dams. Wieder, who represents the 2nd District, said she has asked the county officials to meet with city leaders Nov. 30.

Wieder added that a 17-page report issued Monday by County Administrative Officer Larry Parrish assuring supervisors that the county is making great progress in earthquake safety planning has done little to allay her concerns.

“We can’t beat them up over it--this is no time for finger-pointing--but I think we have to monitor it better. . . . That was the purpose of this report--to find out things weren’t getting done.

“I don’t want to be in the position the governor was in--of saying, ‘Nobody told me,’ ” Wieder said in reference to Gov. George Deukmejian’s statements that he had not been informed about the structural deficiencies in the Oakland freeway that collapsed in the Bay Area quake Oct. 17. “I think we as public officials have a duty to be aware.”

Meanwhile, Orange County Fire Chief Larry J. Holms said in a news conference Tuesday that a few of the county’s 45 fire stations will probably have to be moved or substantially rebuilt because of earthquake safety concerns. Holms said the exact number of such stations has not yet been determined.

Holms said he was surprised that as many as 15 fire stations are identified as vulnerable in a serious quake in the consultant’s study. (The county received the study in August and made it public Friday.) Holms said, however, that most of the stations could be fixed quickly and inexpensively and that preliminary work has already begun.

For example, he said, new braces could easily be added to the garage doors of many of the fire stations to prevent their jamming shut in a quake, which the study warns might happen. However, those stations needing substantial reconstruction could take two to three years to repair, Holms said.

Holms noted that five of the 15 problem stations identified in the study are used solely by volunteer firefighters and are not in use full time. All of the stations are older structures, he said.

“We’ll deal with the issues as they arise in a prudent fashion,” Holms said of the earthquake safety measures. “We have to balance that with the available resources we have and the other priorities.”

Other supervisors were reluctant to comment Tuesday on the report issued by Parrish, saying they have been inundated with information since the Bay Area quake and have not had time to review it all fully.

Supervisors had asked for the report in response to reports in The Times Orange County Edition that county agencies had failed to implement most of a $3-million earthquake preparedness plan the board approved in February, 1987. The county administrative officer’s report says progress has been made in implementing many of the plan’s recommendations but that it will take several years to carry out all the recommendations.

“Obviously I have concerns,” Board Chairman Thomas F. Riley said Tuesday, “but there has to be an orderly process for reviewing them.”