DWP Station Fire Loss Worst Since ’71 Sylmar Quake

A fire that caused $25 million to $30 million in damage to a Department of Water and Power station was the most expensive loss incurred at a Los Angeles power system facility since the Sylmar earthquake in 1971, DWP officials said Monday.

But the cost of repairing much of the facility is likely to be absorbed by the manufacturer of a high-tech valve system whose failure caused the damage, officials said, and no service interruption is anticipated.

There were no injuries in the Saturday night fire. But damage to the Sylmar Converter Station East at 13501 San Fernando Road is likely to keep it out of commission for at least a year, said Rufus Hightower, the DWP’s assistant engineer of the Power Operation and Maintenance Division.

Hightower said the crippled power station will not affect consumers’ rates or service.

Although the DWP is continuing its investigation of the equipment failure, officials said the fire broke out within the thyristor valve system, which set off facility alarms and filled the area with heavy smoke. About 50 firefighters responded to the blaze, which had been reduced to smoke by the time fire personnel arrived.

“The valve is still under warranty,” said Benjamin Boychuck, the DWP manager in charge of the converter stations. “They were here today and they seem to be very cooperative. The repairs will be the responsibility of (the manufacturer) at this time frame and this is how we’re looking at it.”

The malfunctioning valves, which hang from the ceiling of a closed room in two-story tall columns, destroyed one electricity converter at the facility and contaminated another with smoke.

The damaged facility had been closed since Friday, Hightower said, for routine tests and inspection. At the time of the fire, the facility had successfully passed inspection and was on standby, ready to be put back to use, he said.

When it was purchased in 1989, the valve system, manufactured by the Swedish company ABB, or ASEA Brown Boveri, was state of the art, Boychuck said. Since then, Hightower said, similar model valve systems have been blamed for fires in India and Brazil.

The owners of the Sylmar facility, which include the DWP, Southern California Edison and the cities of Burbank, Pasadena and Glendale, were scheduled to install fire detection and suppression apparatus before July, 1993.

ABB officials could not be reached for comment.

The Sylmar station converts electricity carried from a hydroelectric plant in Washington to the Los Angeles area into the kind used in homes and businesses, Hightower said. The Sylmar Converter Station East was built to augment an older facility, now called Sylmar Converter Station West.

The older station, Hightower said, is capable of meeting the average electrical demand of both stations.