Fire Codes

UC Irvine has had a commendable safety record since it opened nearly 40 years ago. But a recent fire brought to light the troubling fact that about two-thirds of the buildings on the campus lack firefighting sprinklers. Among the facilities without sprinklers are two dormitories, five child-care centers and a Montessori school. All met the fire codes when they were built. Days after the July 23 fire in the five-story Frederick Reines Hall, UCI Chancellor Ralph J.

Ventura fire officials Wednesday were still investigating the cause of the spectacular blaze that on Saturday gutted Bonnie's, the venerable costume and party supply store whose slogan was, "You never saw so much stuff." Fire Chief Bob Horne said the flames that swept through the shop and drew thousands of curious onlookers to downtown Ventura did an estimated $1.25 million damage. "Bonnie's had a tremendous amount of combustible material in it," said Horne, adding that the store had been in compliance with city fire codes.

The hunt for boat slips in chronically congested Newport Harbor will grow even more critical in coming weeks as the city prepares to enforce fire laws that prohibit boats from being tied up alongside each other in overcrowded berths. The city's municipal code prohibits the practice, in part because flames can spread among linked boats and the tied vessels could hamper firefighting efforts.

There have always been risks associated with nightclubs, from brawls to drunken shootouts. Fire has been an ever-present danger. But in recent years, a combination of stringent fire codes, stricter enforcement and improved technology has dramatically reduced the number, and the severity, of nightclub fires. No fire code can protect a club from the unauthorized use of fireworks, such as the display that appears to have caused the Thursday fire in West Warwick, R.I., that has killed 96 people.

A man and woman suffered critical burns and smoke inhalation in an arson-caused fire at a motel here Monday morning despite barricading themselves in a bathroom for protection from the flames. Officials were seeking suspects in the fire. Joe Primero, 38, a janitor at the Pioneer Motel, and his girlfriend, Doreen Salgado, 25, were listed in critical condition at the UCI Medical Center in Orange Monday after the 4:50 a.m. blaze, Fire Chief Herb Jewell said.

The latest fires sweeping Southern California are a grim reminder of the perils of living too close to nature. But that has not stopped victims of earlier conflagrations from rebuilding in the same fire-prone places, often with the blessing of public officials. In canyons, forests and wildlands throughout the state, rebuilding has occurred quickly after major fires. Often, improved fire codes, building methods and materials make the new homes far more fire resistant than the old ones.

A brush fire that burned five condominiums along a coastal canyon in San Clemente proved so destructive in part because some residents failed to clear vegetation around their homes, fire officials said Thursday. Coastal sage and other native vegetation known to be highly combustible weave their way through many backyards along the canyon's ridge, in some cases growing far too close to foundations, officials said.

Fires that damaged three dwellings in Orange County on Wednesday illustrate not only the danger of wood-shake roofs, fire authorities said, but also the patchwork nature of laws governing shake roofs in the county. An Anaheim apartment building, where illegal fireworks sparked a fire in its wood-shake roof and displaced 12 families, was built before a 1982 city ordinance requiring newly built wood roofs to be fire retardant.

When the bell sounded, Fire Capt. Christopher Cooper broke off mid-sentence and bolted for the trucks. As he slid past a buddy in the doorway, he heard the words that raise every L.A. firefighter's blood. "It's a structure," Cooper's colleague said. "We've got a structure." He meant a structure fire, a burning building. For L.A. city firefighters, known for their urban firefighting skills, "structure" conjures up an intensely proud identity. But it's a word Cooper hears less and less.

About 160 residents of a poorly maintained downtown Los Angeles apartment building owned by a convicted slumlord were left homeless Tuesday after an intentionally set fire swept through a portion of the building before dawn, city officials said. No one was injured in the blaze, which broke out on the second floor of an empty unit at 3:28 a.m., destroying five units and damaging several others. Arson investigators would not comment about how the fire was set.