Simi Valley Slowly Gets Back to Business

In Simi Valley, the Ventura County city that was closest to the epicenter, Chamber of Commerce President Mike McCaffrey believes it will be six to 12 weeks before business returns to near normal.

“By then, most companies will be back in operation,” he said. “However, I would guess that it will be six months before things are completely normal.”

McCaffrey declined to estimate how many people were thrown out of work because of damaged facilities.

But he reported that even companies that seemingly sustained only minor damage face delays in getting back to work, since their buildings must first pass official inspections.

One of the largest facilities closed down in Simi Valley was Farmers Insurance Group’s Los Angeles regional office on Cochran Street, where 900 are employed. Most of the workers were told to stay home throughout last week. About 250 were permitted to return to the five-story building to help clean up damaged offices.

“A lot of computers and filing cabinets were tossed around,” said Farmers Vice President Jeff Beyer. “We also had some burst pipes on the third floor. The water caused damage on the first three floors.” Farmers expects to have its building fully operational this week, Beyer said.

At the Simi Valley warehouse of Pacific Beverage Co., branch manager Burt von Bieberstein said 25,000 cases of beer in bottles and cans had to be destroyed after crashing to the floor.

“We had three small bulldozers working most of the week cleaning up the mess,” he said. Employees from other Pacific warehouses helped get the plant ready to reopen.

The main damage at clothing manufacturer Bugle Boy Industries was a shattered atrium at the plant’s entrance. In addition, thousands of garments were tossed about in the firm’s main headquarters and a nearby retail distribution center.

Spokesman Arnie Carr said most of Bugle Boy’s 700 employees in Simi Valley worked without interruption, though some stayed home because of damage to their residences.

Other Simi Valley businesses that were closed for at least part of last week included Micom Communications Corp., which employs 325, and Whittaker Electronic Systems, which closed one of its two plants in the city.