Manning Complains About Lag on High-Rise Sprinklers

The head of the Los Angeles Fire Department, citing a $25-million series of fires that roared through a Westwood neighborhood last month, complained Thursday that the city has been slow to reduce fire hazards in about 120 older high-rise residential buildings.

In a letter to the City Council, Fire Chief Donald Manning said plans to require the installation of sprinklers in high-rises have been discussed for 18 months, with no resolution.

“At this point in the process, it would be difficult for me to conceal my disappointment,” Manning stated in the letter, which was sent to Councilman Richard Alatorre, chairman of the Police, Fire and Public Safety Committee.

The letter, dated Jan. 3, was made public Thursday at a Board of Fire Commissioners meeting.

In the letter, Manning asserted that the most recent version of a proposed sprinkler ordinance “contains exemptions . . . that are viewed by this department as effectively neutralizing the fire and life safety impact of the ordinance.”

Those exemptions would allow building owners to avoid the sprinkler requirements if they could show that their building contained a substantial amount of asbestos, according to a Fire Department spokesman.

Asbestos once was commonly used as insulation, but in recent years, tiny asbestos particles have been shown to pose health risks. As a result, residents of the high-rises have expressed concern that installation of sprinklers in asbestos-insulated buildings would cause asbestos fibers to be released into the air.

The Fire Department decision to go public with its complaints drew a quick, wounded response from Alatorre’s office.

“We’re stunned, shocked and disappointed,” said Bonnie Rath, who works on the public safety committee for Alatorre.

She said Alatorre had been working with the Fire Department to resolve the matter.

“At no point did we attempt to undercut them,” Rath said. “Releasing this to the press undercuts us.”

Since 1974, according to city ordinance, any buildings more than 75 feet high must have sprinklers. Owners of older commercial high-rises already have been required to retrofit their structures.

Fire officials said there are still 120 older condominiums, apartment houses and hotels not covered by city ordinance.

Beginning in July, 1988, discussions aimed at writing an ordinance to cover these buildings began with the Fire Department, the Department of Building and Safety, and Alatorre.

Rath said the sprinkler ordinance is scheduled to come up for debate Monday. One Fire Department source said the department is hopeful it will still be successful in modifying the ordinance.

According to Rath, Alatorre is trying to balance fire safety against the dangers of exposing people to asbestos or forcing them to vacate apartments for months at a time while sprinklers are installed. But fire officials said the asbestos issue has been blown out of proportion, and that sprinklers can be installed without forcing people out of their homes.

Craig Drummond, the department’s deputy chief for operations, estimated that the 14-story Wilshire Terrace condominium project that caught fire on Dec. 23 would have suffered only one-tenth of the damage it sustained if sprinklers had been installed on each floor. The Wilshire Terrace cooperative the year before had discussed the possibility of installing a $1-million sprinkler system, but no action was taken.

The building caught fire around 3:30 a.m., ignited by an explosive blaze at a construction project next door. The flames engulfed the entire east side of the building, destroying 22 of the apartments. Nearly 150 people were evacuated. There were no deaths or serious injuries.

Federal and local arson experts have conducted what one firefighter characterized as a “foot-by-foot” inspection of the construction site and sent off pieces of evidence for laboratory analysis. But fire officials said Thursday that they still did not know what caused the initial blaze.