EARTHQUAKE / THE LONG ROAD BACK : O.C. Board Orders New Study of Quake Risk to Fire Stations

The Board of Supervisors on Tuesday called for a new review of earthquake risks to the county’s network of fire stations, many of which continue to languish in the same poor structural condition detailed in a 1989 engineering report.

Although a review of county records shows that authorities have spent more than $7.3 million in the past four years to make some upgrades, they have been slow to approve major remodeling projects to high-risk stations, Fire Department records indicate.

In calling for the study, Supervisors Chairwoman Harriett M. Wieder said she was “shocked and embarrassed” that the county had not set deadlines to complete renovations to 14 firehouses deemed to be at “high” or “very high” risk for earthquake damage.

Currently, county documents show that only two of the stations at risk were planned for renovation. Six of the stations were in the process of relocation or “potential relocation” and four were “city-owned” with remodeling responsibility falling to those cities.

The station listed in the 1989 study as needing the most attention was Fire Station 12 in Cypress. Others listed “high” or “very high” risk were in Orange, Sunset Beach, Lake Forest, Seal Beach, Villa Park and Placentia. The Cypress station is expected to be relocated and remodeling work has been scheduled for stations in Lake Forest and in the Tustin area.

“Architectural and operational issues as well as needed upgrades have increased the scope of work and thus delayed the original construction timetable,” according to a county Fire Department report.

The new report was prepared in response to Monday’s earthquake and in anticipation of questions by supervisors.

The 1989 study, by EQE Engineering in Costa Mesa, stated that the high-risk fire stations would be damaged so badly in an earthquake that they would be “very unlikely” to provide emergency services and posed threats to personal safety.

Wieder said Monday’s temblor would be the impetus to “do something.”

“It is simply not a good enough answer to say that we don’t have any money,” she said. “If something happens to those fire stations, what’s the alternative? What’s the impact to our population?”

Supervisor Gaddi H. Vasquez said he was somewhat surprised at how few stations had been targeted for strengthening.

“Disaster preparedness is something I’ve been talking about for a long time,” Vasquez said. “This may be the time for us to take a much broader view” of the county’s preparedness.

Orange County Fire Chief Larry J. Holms said the department’s response to needed structural improvements has been hampered by budget constraints.

Only last year, Holms said the department was considering closing some stations and reducing nearly half its work force when the state threatened to take away about $40 million from the local firefighting budget to help fund public education.

“In the past two or three years, our number one priority has been to simply keep stations open with firefighters and paramedics on their equipment,” Holms said.

Although last year’s state and local budget crises ended with the Fire Department’s finances intact, Holms said the department was preoccupied with budget matters through October, leaving little time for new projects.

County Administrative Officer Ernie Schneider said the past three budget years have been “very tenuous” for the Fire Department.

“The Fire Department made the call to put money in people rather than to retrofit fire stations for earthquakes,” he said. “There were times when we didn’t know whether we would be able to keep some stations open. The thought was, ‘What good would it have been to retrofit those stations only to close them?’ ”

But Schneider said any characterization that the county has done nothing to prepare its fire stations to withstand earthquakes is without merit.

Schneider said and documents show that the county has spent thousands of dollars to brace fire station doors and to anchor water heaters and radio equipment.

For example, the 1989 study showed that garage doors at numerous stations lacked adequate bracing. In an earthquake, the lack of support could trap firetrucks in the station, leaving them useless.

The recent Fire Department report stated that door systems had been addressed, among other “non-structural components.”

“It would be unfair to say that the county has stood still in disaster preparedness,” Vasquez said. The supervisor referred to last year’s opening of the county’s emergency operations center and plans for an $80-million radio system that promises to upgrade law enforcement communications during disasters.