The Southland Firestorm: Holding the Line : For Fire Victims Beyond City Limits, a Riordan Apology : Disaster: Mayor said he failed to show support for Malibu residents and crews from around the state.

Mayor Richard Riordan apologized Thursday for failing to show sympathy and support for victims of the recent Calabasas/Malibu wildfires who live outside the city of Los Angeles or appreciation of the firefighters from throughout the state who waged war against the flames.

“It was legitimate,” Riordan said of the criticism leveled at him for remarks he made at an early-morning news conference Wednesday, when he expressed thanks that Los Angeles residents had been spared from the fires and praised the city’s Fire Department for its work fighting the conflagration.

“I realized afterward that we had not shown the kind of concern we should have toward others and for their help,” Riordan said during a tour of the east San Fernando Valley.

At the news conference, Riordan complimented city firefighters who helped beat down the flames in the county areas as the fire swept down from the hills into Malibu, destroying more than 200 homes, killing at least three people and injuring 150 other people.

“As a result of that, also, the fire has not reached the city limits of L.A. at this time,” Riordan said.

That comment drew criticism that Riordan had been unsympathetic to victims in Malibu, an independent city, and to the many fire departments from throughout California that participated in the huge firefighting campaign, including contingents from Inglewood, Chico, Bakersfield, Merced County and state forestry crews.

Riordan said neither his aides nor his press handlers called the faux pas to his attention. “I realized it myself,” Riordan said.

The mayor tried to correct his error in subsequent interviews Wednesday, he said, by praising the firefighters from other jurisdictions and expressing sympathy for all fire victims.

Riordan’s apology, made in response to a question from The Times, was welcomed by Councilman Joel Wachs Thursday as a sign of the mayor’s honesty. “People should appreciate the mayor’s candor” in apologizing, Wachs said.

“It’s refreshing. Tell me the last time a politician admitted making a mistake,” said Wachs, one of Riordan’s leading boosters at City Hall.

Riordan’s apology came as the mayor finished a tour of Wachs’ district. The tour began with Riordan meeting the owners of Western Bagel Baking Corp. who are seeking help from the city to expand their operations in the San Fernando Valley. The firm’s Van Nuys bakery operates around the clock, producing thousands of bagels each hour.

Steve Ustin, co-owner of the bakery with his father, told the mayor that because of the difficulties of working with Los Angeles City Hall, he has considered locating a planned 50,000-square-foot bagel freezing plant in Riverside County, Las Vegas or Phoenix.

Wachs in turn promised to help Western Bagel expand its bakery in Van Nuys, a move requiring a modest waiver of the city’s standard parking requirements, and pledged to help the firm find a site in the Valley for its freezing plant.

During a tour of the bakery and a meeting with the Ustins and Larry Schultz, the firm’s operations manager, Riordan got an earful about the problems of doing business in Los Angeles.

Western Bagel is a “real-life example of a company . . . that was fed up and going to take a walk,” Wachs told Riordan.

After hearing the complaints, Riordan promised to do what he could to help the firm stay in Los Angeles. The Ustins called the meeting encouraging.

The mayor’s second and last stop on his quick tour of the East Valley was an equestrian ring in La Tuna Canyon, where Riordan joined 450 East Valley community leaders--Wachs’ guests--and watched a dozen disabled children ride horses as part of a therapy program called Ahead With Horses.

One of the children, Nicky McGuire, 4, who has cerebral palsy, took his first step as he moved into Riordan’s arms in the ring. Liz Helms, director of the program, announced the child’s breakthrough over a loudspeaker. Riordan beamed and carried Nicky back to his stroller.

“We were very proud,” said Ron McGuire, the boy’s father.

Helms said such feats are not unusual. “The kids seem to respond to the energy and people,” she said. “It’s not the first time a child has done a first during these events. It’s like an Olympic performance for them, and they make a special effort.”