1,800 Inmates Evacuated as Fire Hits Hall of Justice

Fire erupted in a narcotics storage area on the seventh floor of the Los Angeles County Hall of Justice this morning, forcing the evacuation of 200 employees and 1,800 inmates in the downtown building’s upper-floor jail.

Thirty-six firefighters, sheriff’s deputies and building security officials were taken to area hospitals for treatment of minor injuries after the blaze, according to city fire officials.

It was uncertain whether the building would be reopened this afternoon. Firefighters opened all the windows and used gas-generated fans to clear smoke from offices.

Started by Worker

The fire, which was started by a welder’s torch, began at 10:25 a.m. in the 63-year-old, 15-story building on Temple Street and was put out at 11:11 a.m., officials said.

The blaze started in the 20-by-30-foot storage area that contains evidentiary documents and narcotics seized as evidence in Sheriff’s Department investigations. Some narcotics were destroyed in the fire, but Sheriff Sherman Block said it would not hurt prosecutions because chemical samplings already had been taken.

“It wasn’t our entire stash, as they would say, “ Block said.

More than 120 firefighters from 30 engine companies, along with two helicopters, were sent to battle the blaze, Fire Department spokesman Greg Acevedo said.

The building is not fitted with a sprinkler system. Sheriff’s personnel on the seventh floor tried to stop the blaze with fire hoses, but were unsuccessful. The county is exempt from city laws requiring sprinklers in high-rise buildings.

Faulty Communication

Fire Department spokesman Vince Marzo said firemen had trouble communicating with one another because of outmoded radio equipment that would not transmit through the concrete walls of the building, a problem that plagued crews during the First Interstate Bank fire in May.

Evacuation of the more than 2,000 prisoners and sheriff’s employees was ordered after smoke quickly filled much of the upper floors of the building, which house the sheriff’s headquarters behind an Italian Renaissance facade of gray California granite.

The prisoners, who are housed in the upper six floors of the building, were herded downstairs and through an underground tunnel into the county Criminal Courts Building on the other side of Temple Street. Some of them shouted sardonic chants of delight. Security buses were brought into the tunnels to transfer the prisoners to the county’s Men’s Central Jail near Union Station.

Times staff writer Michael Ybarra contributed to this article.