Courthouse Fires

[Richard Boyden <richard.boyden@sanbruno.nara.gov>]

Here are some gleanings from the Walnut Creek paper on the the fires
last year.  This was compiled for the benefit of the presenters at the
symposium June 7, but will be of interest to subscribers.  Please provide
comments to me so that I can pass them on.  Thanks.

EXCERPTS FROM THE CONTRA COSTA TIMES

8/29/95  The Walnut Creek Municipal Court fire (8/28) was reported
before 6 a.m.   Sandra Pearson-Schmidt quoted.  The building is on
Ygnacio Valley Road.  After the fire, custody arraignments are moved to
Superior Court (Martinez); the fire was started in two places, a judge's
chamber and a break room.  Question asked how did they enter the
building (later, didn?t it turn out they didn?t enter?)

The building is equipped with sprinklers (p. 6A) (is this correct?)

8/30/95 p. 4A Everything in Walnut Creek bldg is smoke-damaged;
Schmidt says records will be freeze-dried to prevent mold.

Last coverage until:

9/15/96 p.1: Suspect held, arrested night of 9/14; Martinez police officers
spotted him leaving the scene of the fire.  Fire photo of firefighter Larry
Delgado leaving courthouse basement with burning files.

Mt. Diablo Municipal Court, 2 locations in Concord: 1) Willow Pass Road
and 2) Parkside Drive (this one a total loss), story continued on back
page, p. 16A:

Martinez police officers Bryan Dodd and Dan Lynch decided on their
own to patrol the courthouse area after they heard about the Concord
fires.  Dodd chased a suspect through a parking lot but lost him.  Lynch
noticed a broken window where the suspect had been standing and
noticed the glow of flames coming through the window from the
basement of the building.

ATF comes into investigation; FBI offers use of its lab.

County says ?most of the documents are at least summarized on
computer.?

Martinez courthouse basement area directly impacted is estimated at two
to four thousand square feet.

The Concord fires took five hours to contain.  Intensity and difficulty
attributed in part to the false mansard-style roofs on the buildings.

9/15/95, p. 12A ?Added Security Summoned to Bay Area Courts.?  From
the story it appears that these events set off a panic in criminal
justice/law enforcement community in Bay Area.

Martinez courthouse had no intrusion or fire alarm systems.
But Concord did have fire alarm (is this true?).

Concord police say courtrooms damaged by the fire had panic alarms but
no burglar alarms.  Some city offices in Concord - like finance - had
intrusion alarms.

Additional security measures will be considered, including the possible
installation of special nonbreakable glass in ground level windows,
according to Lt. Mike Ilg, CCC Sheriff?s Dept.

Compares security with S. Clara County.

An arsonist attacked a courthouse in Los Gatos several years ago.

Alameda County has ?adequate but varying? levels of security at its
courthouses.

?The incidents in Contra Costa reconfirm to law enforcement agencies
that courts are potential targets, officials said.?

Sgt. Case, Sacto Co. SD: ?Every day people are convicted or have their
children taken away, and every day someone leaves here angry.  It?s
cheaper to pay for security than the disasters.?

Article cites Woodside serial arsonist [1993?].  Also cites Fort Bragg
arson fire that destroyed a library, a courthouse, and a restaurant in the
late 80's; the culprit was never caught.

9/15/95 p. 12A ?Courthouses Are On The Move.?  20,000 criminal files
destroyed in the Concord fires.

Len Letellier, Contra Costa Superior Court Administrator: ?It?s amazing
how much damage a fire can cause in an area that contains so much
paper.?

Walnut Creek municipal court says it will use computer files and copies
of documents from District Attorney?s office to reconstruct files.

Superior Court documents will be chemically cleaned and freeze dried.

9/15/95  p. 13A Photo spread with captions.  The two Concord
courthouses were ? block apart.

9/16/96 p.1  Raymond Fisher arrested.  Had been scheduled to appear
on a public drunkenness charge in municipal court. Continued on p. 4A.

9/16/95, p. 5A: ?Restorers? Wish: Make Records Dry Reading Again.?  Tim
Penner (Munters) standing among soaked and charred records in
Martinez: ?It?s a disaster.?  He is district manager for Munters. 

David Osborne, an associate with Paul Davis Systems in Benicia, says
?We have to have fast response and you have to know what you?re
doing.?

[Regarding the records placed in plastic garbage bags and then a
refrigerated trailer:]  ?The 35 to 40 degree temperature stunts the growth
of mold and mildew and gives workers a chance to move on to the next
stage, drying the pulpy mess.?

?Penner said he expects to have two hulking dehumidifiers on site in
Martinez today.  The larger of the two, capable of pumping 2000 cubic
feet of air a minute, will dry the first floor of the courthouse and the tens
of thousands of files not directly damaged by the flames but [which]
have nevertheless been soaking up the moisture left over from the fire
hoses.?

??Most of these files will probably have to be moved into ten refrigerated
trailers to be parked behind the courthouse,? Penner said.?

9/17/96 p.1 ?Court Fires Fuel Alarm, Security Issues.?

Three courthouses had no sprinklers or alarms.  Codes requiring them
were enacted only after the buildings were constructed.  

?Had these buildings been sprinklered, the outcome would have been far
different.?  - Cecily Bailey, Contra Costa County Fire District
spokesperson.  ?There would have been just minor fire and water
damage.?

?County officials disagree, saying such devises are no match for an
arsonist.?

??I don?t think that anything that is intentionally set is going to be stopped
by sprinklers,? said Val Alexeef, who heads the county?s building
inspection and planning agencies. ?If you?re intentionally malicious, you
can overcome any kind of mechanical devise.??

?Alexeef said two court buildings in Concord may have been set ablaze
from the outside, rendering ceiling mounted sprinklers irrelevant.?

?As for the 63-year old courthouse in Martinez, quick thinking by Martinez
police meant the fire fighters were on the scene within minutes of the
ignition.?

Continued on p. 4A 

Mike Ilg, head of court security for the Sheriff?s Department:
?How to secure the courts is a familiar topic in Contra Costa.?  

A 1987 shooting death in the courthouse and a second killing in front of it
in 1990 spurred demands for metal detection systems but it was never
done.  Deputies use hand-held detectors in specific potentially
dangerous cases.

In July 1995 the County applied for a $1.8 million state grant for a metal
detection system.  

?Stories of angry litigants unloading their anger on court employees are
the stuff of lunch-time chats for workers in the clerk?s office, where the
fire was set.?

??It?s amazing it?s only a fire, I?m surprised we haven?t been shot yet,? said
Laura Martins, a six year employee in the clerk?s office.?

Panic alarms were installed after the 1987 and 1990 killings and a rear
entrance was closed off.

?Clerks said they also wondered why, despite the rows of files that
would quickly fuel flames, no fire alarms or sprinklers were in place.?

County general services agency director Bart Gilbert ?and others said
they fully expected that some security and fire prevention improvements
will follow from the courthouse arson.  But fully insulating all offices from
potential harm would be virtually impossible.  ?It?s an open society,? Gilbert
said. ?We?re all kind of vulnerable.??

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