O.C. Buildings Emptied After Bomb Threats

Just hours after a deadly car-bomb explosion at a federal building in Oklahoma City, bomb threats forced the evacuation Wednesday of hundreds of workers from the FBI’s headquarters in Santa Ana and from the Anaheim City Hall amid an air of heightened security and jittery nerves at government buildings across Orange County.

No bombs turned up, but news of the carnage in Oklahoma City was enough to prompt some parents to drop everything and pick up their children early at a day-care center housed in a federal building in Laguna Niguel. The destroyed building in Oklahoma also held a day-care center.

Kelly Duford, 36, a legal secretary of Aliso Viejo, had arrived by 4 p.m.--two hours earlier than usual--to pick up her daughter, Danielle, 3.

“It made me really nervous,” Duford said with a shudder. “I’m happy to see these federal agents outside. This is really devastating. As soon as I heard that it involved a federal building and a day-care center, I wanted to get over here fast. This is just way too close to home.”

Two telephoned bomb threats reported in Orange County disrupted normal business and prompted the more than 750 evacuated employees to wonder if there was a connection with the Oklahoma City blast.

In downtown Santa Ana, a bomb-sniffing dog searched a private building that houses the local FBI headquarters--along with offices of the Orange County district attorney, the public defender and a property management firm--after an anonymous caller telephoned the FBI about 9:45 a.m. to say a bomb was about to go off. About 150 people waited outside for two hours while investigators scoured the grounds and jotted down license-plate numbers of vehicles in the garage next door.

FBI spokesman Gary Morley said there was no evidence that the threat was connected to the bombing in Oklahoma City. Morley declined to say whether the caller indicated who was responsible for the local threat, but said it “was specific enough that we wanted to take it seriously.”

In Anaheim, more than 600 city employees were evacuated from City Hall and an adjacent building after a caller phoned the city manager’s office about 10:20 a.m. and claimed explosive devices would detonate within an hour, police said.

Police found nothing suspicious during a floor-by-floor search, and employees were allowed to return to the buildings 2 1/2 hours later.

Anaheim officials have received bomb threats before but have never evacuated the buildings. The difference Wednesday was the explosion in Oklahoma.

“The decision was influenced by what happened this morning,” said Anaheim Police Chief Randall Gaston.

Meanwhile, federal marshals in Santa Ana made a precautionary search for suspicious parcels around the busy Federal Building and security personnel were on heightened alert at courthouses and government offices all over Orange County.

“We’re looking for anything that might look suspicious, a package that might be a bomb,” said Charlie Almanza, assistant chief deputy U.S. marshal in Orange County. “We have no reason to believe there might be any explosives at our facilities.”

Extra marshals were posted in the lobbies and driveway at the Orange County Courthouse, where 7,000 workers and visitors pass through every day. “It’s strictly precautionary,” said Capt. Don Spears, a county marshal’s spokesman.

While authorities downplayed possible links between the Oklahoma explosion and bomb threats in Orange County, tension was apparent among local office workers. About a dozen employees of U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Santa Ana were hurriedly--and mistakenly--sent outside after a supervisor heard reports of the evacuation at the FBI’s building two blocks away. Many parents picked up their children early from the day-care center in the Chet Holifield Federal Building in Laguna Niguel even though administrators had called to tell them all was well.

“It’s like any tragedy. After an airplane crash, for instance, a lot of people just won’t fly,” said Shauna Bogert, 28, director of the center, which serves 178 children from preschool through sixth grade. Bogert’s daughter, Lauren, 3, is a student at the center. “We’re seeing a lot of that feeling here. A lot of people want their children with them, for peace of mind. It just makes them feel better.”

Near the emptied FBI building in Santa Ana, workers milling in a parking lot said they became frightened after an agent came to the door to direct them outside.

“He said, ‘Don’t panic. We just got a bomb threat,’ ” said Vienna Chernabaeff, a receptionist for the firm that manages the building. “His lip was quivering. I knew it was serious.”

The evacuations interrupted work but gave staffers a chance for some fresh air. In Santa Ana, some people sipped coffee, others talked shop and a few made plans to dash to the mall for lunch. Some workers for Anaheim’s public utility department moved a luncheon meeting to a patch of grass across the street from City Hall.

But the ordeal--and the grim news from Oklahoma--made some people reluctant to go back indoors.

“I’m nervous,” said Chernabaeff. “You can’t take this lightly. I’m not.”

Staff writers Michael Granberry, Matt Lait, Rene Lynch, Steve Scheibal and Ching-Ching Ni contributed to this story.