Blaze Damages Old Burbank Train Depot : Fire: The loss casts doubt on the city’s plan to use the station as part of its new commuter rail complex.

Burbank’s 1920s-era train depot was severely damaged by fire Tuesday, prompting officials to evaluate whether the building can be salvaged as the nostalgic centerpiece of the city’s new commuter rail complex.

About a third of the vacant 180-foot-long station, located at 201 N. Front St., was damaged in the blaze, which erupted at 5:03 a.m., said Burbank Fire Capt. Steve Patterson. The roof of the main lobby also collapsed, he said.

City Planner Rick Pruetz said the damage to the building will not cause any delays to plans for the commuter system, which is scheduled to start operation in October, 1992. Burbank will be one of the stops for commuter trains from Moorpark and Santa Clarita to downtown Los Angeles and back.

However, Pruetz said the building was intended to be the focal point of the transportation complex, which will also include an RTD bus terminal, a pedestrian bridge and 1,600 parking spaces.

“It’s part of history and was a neat-looking building,” Pruetz said. “This won’t delay anything, but there’s a lot of nostalgia value surrounding railroads, and we were hoping to use the building to help generate interest in the station. In that sense, it’s a blow.”

He said the city planned to have an architect examine the building to determine if it is worth saving.

“It remains to be seen whether the exterior walls are still sound,” he said.

Burbank was in the process of acquiring the building from Southern Pacific, Pruetz said.

The city is conducting environmental studies on the property, since the building was most recently used two years ago to store hazardous chemicals, he said.

Southern Pacific officials could not be reached for comment.

The cause of the fire was still under investigation, but Patterson said that recently several small fires apparently had been set by transients.

The station served as a train depot from the 1920s to the 1940s and then was used primarily as a warehouse for several years, Patterson said.