Earthquake: The Long Road Back : Devastation May Spur Tougher Building Laws : Fillmore: Officials weigh more stringent regulations after severe damage to unreinforced masonry structures.

The devastation in the city of Fillmore from this week’s earthquake underscored the need for more stringent laws in Ventura County regarding unreinforced masonry buildings, officials said Tuesday.

Ninety percent of the 64 unreinforced masonry buildings in Fillmore’s downtown district were destroyed or heavily damaged in the 6.6 temblor, city officials said.

Unreinforced masonry buildings--usually referring to brick structures--are considered unsafe to be in or near during a major earthquake.

The west county cities of Santa Paula and Ventura, which have the highest number of unreinforced masonry buildings, survived with minimal damage, but are located farther from the epicenter in the northern San Fernando Valley than Fillmore.

Although scientists have been warning city officials for years that Ventura County may be due for a major earthquake, only the cities of Ventura and Ojai have adopted laws that mandate building reinforcements.

On Tuesday, a day after the quake hit, Fillmore officials were considering adopting a new law that would require property owners to strengthen buildings to withstand future earthquakes. Fillmore officials estimate the city suffered about $200 million in damage.

“I think some kind of upgrading would have helped those buildings in Fillmore,” said Bob Prodoehl, superintendent of building and safety for the city of Ventura.

The city of Camarillo and the county have guidelines that specify renovations be performed in phases, depending on how many people use a building daily. In Santa Paula, where 120 buildings are made of unreinforced masonry, landlords are asked to voluntarily improve their properties.

Historically, few city councils in Ventura County have adopted stringent earthquake building standards because property owners say upgrade costs are too high. Ojai’s ordinance is the only one in the county that aims to make sure its 11 unreinforced masonry buildings are reinforced against major earthquakes. Ventura’s law requires only minimal changes to its 138 unsafe buildings.

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“I think city councils will be looking at passing more laws with a more critical eye now,” said Larry Hauer, a structural engineer who has a private practice in Ventura.

Oxnard officials said they are considering adopting a law about unreinforced masonry buildings, while officials of Santa Paula and Ventura said they do not plan to amend their building codes.

“We had a pretty comprehensive look at it a few years ago and I haven’t heard anyone suggest changing it,” Ventura Mayor Tom Buford said.

Fillmore City Manager Roy Payne said the council in the past has balked at passing a law that governs unreinforced masonry structures because most of the buildings are owned by small-business owners who cannot afford to do the upgrades.

But after most of the buildings in its business district were damaged or destroyed, the Fillmore City Council was scheduled to hold an emergency meeting Tuesday evening to consider passing a law that would require property owners to upgrade to state-recommended standards.

The state recommends that buildings constructed before 1933 be made safer by installing steel frames inside structures, or steel bars in walls. Other state-recommended reinforcements include anchoring parapets--the decorative part of a wall that extends above the roof line--and tying ceilings and floors to walls.

Eric Marsh, owner of the Fillmore Hotel, said he doubts he could have done anything to save the walls of his two-story residential hotel from crumbling because the earthquake was so strong.

Marsh did not do any earthquake retrofitting to his 1904 building, except for bolting the bottom floor walls to the main beams.

“I don’t think we’re going to rebuild,” Marsh said, adding that he could not buy earthquake insurance for the unreinforced masonry building. “We’ll probably sell the bricks.”

Other property owners maintain that extensive reinforcing of their buildings will not guarantee that they will withstand a major temblor.

“There’s no such thing as earthquake-proof,” said Tom Wood, a Ventura landlord who has reinforced several buildings in the city’s downtown. “If it’s big enough and strong enough--I don’t care how much money you put into it--the quake will knock it down.”

Times staff writer Scott Hadly contributed to this story.