Investigators End On-Site Probe of First Interstate Fire

Fire investigators completed their on-site probe of last week’s First Interstate Bank fire and met Sunday afternoon to assemble a report, due as early as today, on the probable cause of the high-rise blaze.

One Los Angeles fire official said that as arson investigators from the Fire Department and the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms went into their debriefing meeting, they still had not clearly identified a single cause.

“It’s not definite enough at this time to concentrate on any one thing,” said Battalion Chief Gary Bowie, who heads the Fire Department’s 12-member arson team.

“We want to deal with this as quickly as we can. But we also want to do it thoroughly,” added Ron Wolters, supervisor of 24 federal investigators sent to the fire.

Arson investigators said they hoped to make public their conclusions today.

Sale of Unit Downplayed as Factor

Jurisdiction over most of the 62-story building was returned to First Interstate during the weekend. After one final check of the rubble, fire officials late Sunday also restored access to the building’s 12th floor, where the blaze reportedly broke out late Wednesday night in offices containing the bank’s government securities trading unit. Flames seared through to the 16th floor before firefighters were able to control the fire.

Although arson investigators declined to discuss their progress, they downplayed suggestions that the bank’s decision on the day before the fire to sell the securities unit--affecting as many as 100 jobs--may have had a role in any possibility of arson.

“The trading operation does not appear to have caused any reason for the fire,” Bowie said. “We haven’t found a disgruntled employee yet.” Later he added: “No one (interviewed) has said that there’s a possibility of an incendiary fire of any type.”

On Sunday, investigators removed several wheelbarrows full of debris from the 12th floor for further examination. Much of their work on the 12th floor was the painstaking checking and sifting of debris.

“It’s doing things like looking at shorted wires and broken (electric) breakers,” Bowie said.

Bowie and bank officials said the area where the fire started was a computerized nerve center, with more than 130 trading stations equipped with computer terminals, monitors and telephone banks.

Bank officials said that cleanup operations inside the fire-scarred building had begun and that some occupants will be allowed to return to their blackened offices today to retrieve crucial possessions. Officials were able to make that decision after the Fire Department over the weekend declared that the high-rise is safe to enter, on a limited basis.

‘Limited Controlled Access’

Jeff Bell, the tower’s assistant building manager, said key representatives of each firm in the building will be granted “limited controlled access” on an appointment-only basis.

However, the building will remain closed until it can be repaired and reoccupied by the 3,500 employees who work there for the bank and other tenants.

“We presume it will take a considerable time,” First Interstate spokesman Bob Campbell said.

Bowie said the streets surrounding the building, which have been cordoned off by yellow crowd-control tape since Thursday, will be open to motorists today. Over the weekend, tourists and gawkers took advantage of the lack of traffic to jockey for a view of tower.

Simon Barker-Benfield, the bank’s vice president for corporate public relations, said some preliminary cleanup operations, such as the drainage of water from lower floors, have already begun. Structural engineers have also started an extensive analysis of the steel superstructure.

The bank also made progress Sunday in finding alternative office space for the 2,200 bank employees who work at the headquarters of First Interstate Bancorp.

Chairman Joseph J. Pinola already has set up temporary office space on the 10th floor of Arco Plaza, where a senior staff of 20 will work. Those offices will be ready this morning.

First Interstate is also getting help from corporate friends. The law firm of O’Melveny & Myers has loaned space to bank attorneys, while Security Pacific Bank has donated space for securities trading operations.

Most of the headquarters workers, though, will remain at home--a bank holiday of sorts--awaiting instructions. They should get their marching orders by mid-week, Barker-Benfield said.

First Interstate, a nationwide operation with 320 branches in California alone, has office space throughout Los Angeles, including the nearby Bixel building. The First Interstate branch office that had been in the headquarters facility will open this morning at 626 Wilshire Blvd.

Many of the bank’s operations were spared from the disastrous fire because they are located in a 12-story building west of downtown. About 3,000 people work at this command center.

The fire came as First Interstate is recovering from the worst financial performance in its history. The banking company lost $556 million in 1987 because of problems with foreign loans but rebounded sharply in the first quarter of 1988, reporting a profit of $103 million.

Times staff writers Paul Feldman and Tom Furlong contributed to this story.