SIMI VALLEY : Concern Over Safety Halts Fire Inquiry

Ventura County fire officials said Wednesday that they will not be able to continue their investigation into the cause of a $4-million fire at a school district warehouse in Simi Valley until they can enter the gutted building.

A structural engineer for the Simi Valley Unified School District declared the building unsafe to enter until its two-story concrete walls can be reinforced, said Ron Taylor, a Ventura County Fire Department spokesman.

Taylor said construction crews would be working today to set up steel braces to hold the walls in place, an operation that could take two or three days.

“It will probably be Monday before we can really get in to investigate,” Taylor said.

The fire was reported at 4 a.m. Tuesday at the warehouse in the 800 block of Cochran Street, directly behind the district’s administrative offices. No one was in the building at the time of the blaze.

There were no injuries, but food and instructional supplies were lost along with student records dating back to 1890, when the district was formed.

However, officials said student records after 1972 are contained on computer files in the district headquarters, and student records from 1985 to the present are kept at individual schools.

The district, with 18,000 students and 26 campuses, is the largest in the county.

Mary Beth Wolford, assistant superintendent of business and property management, said school officials will order supplies through the Conejo Valley Unified School District warehouse until other arrangements can be made.

Wolford and other school district officials said they do not expect that classes or school operations will be disrupted by the fire.