Fault Could Affect Hospital’s Expansion

The discovery of what geologists say is an active earthquake segment could affect expansion plans for Simi Valley Hospital, officials say.

As part of an upgrade plan, Simi Valley Hospital officials are studying whether part of that fault, which runs near the northwest border of Simi Valley, is near enough to the facility to warrant extra earthquake protection or even possible relocation.

“We’re underway through that process,” said Alan Rice, the hospital’s president. “We do not have findings that are definitive.”

A year ago, geologists from the Southern California Earthquake Center at USC determined that that stretch of the Simi-Santa Rosa fault might be active.

It is unclear whether it is close enough to the hospital’s north campus, which houses long-term and inpatient rehabilitation units, to be a threat. Both the main hospital and the north campus were built in the 1960s.

“We have no evidence to suggest that the hospital sits on a fault or near enough to move the hospital,” Rice said. “[But] opinions vary widely. We are not at the point of having the facts.”

If an active fault were found within 50 feet of the hospital, the state’s 1972 Alquist-Priolo Earthquake Fault Zoning Act would require relocation, said Mark Oldfield, a spokesman with the California Department of Conservation’s Division of Mines and Geology.

“The Santa Rosa fault is not a small one,” Oldfield said.

More likely, Rice said, would be a plan to retrofit the building to improve earthquake standards and increase seismic safety.