Bank, 8 Other Firms Charged as a Result of High-Rise Fire

First Interstate Bank of California and eight other firms were charged Wednesday in a criminal complaint for fire and safety violations stemming from the fatal fire at the bank’s 62-story building in downtown Los Angeles a year ago today.

The charges allege violations of both state and municipal law, two of which may have led to the death of Alexander Handy, a 24-year-old building maintenance engineer. The late-night fire also injured 40 people, gutted four floors and caused an estimated $450 million in damage.

Among the state Labor Code violations alleged in the complaint were the blocking of a fire exit, failure to maintain accident prevention and inspection programs, failure to maintain fire exits free of obstruction and failure to properly maintain fire equipment.

Among the violations of the Municipal Code include failure to immediately notify the Fire Department of inoperative equipment and failure to immediately call in a fire alarm.

The 12-count misdemeanor complaint was filed jointly by the offices of Los Angeles Dist. Atty. Ira Reiner and City Atty. James K. Hahn. The maximum fine on the various counts ranges from $1,000 to $10,000, according to Deputy Dist. Atty. David Guthman, head of the environmental crimes division.

The building was being fitted with fire sprinklers at the time of the fire, and water mains were shut off. As many as 40 janitors were in the building, and many of them said afterward that they had not been told what to do in case of fire. Many were Spanish-speaking and did not understand English warnings issued over the loudspeaker. The cause of the blaze was never determined.

Guthman said Reiner’s office has been conducting a criminal investigation into the matter for nearly a year, to determine whether felony charges, such as manslaughter, are warranted. “But we are unable at this point to find such evidence,� Guthman said Wednesday.

After reaching that conclusion, Guthman said, county prosecutors approached Hahn’s office for collaboration in the filing of the misdemeanor charges, whose statute of limitations would have expired today. But Guthman noted that authorities still have an additional two years before the statute of limitations on any felony charges runs out.

A spokesman for The First Interstate Tower, a joint venture of First Interstate Bank, The Equitable Life Assurance Society of the United States and California Bank Realty Corp., said attorneys were studying the charges.

“Until they have a chance to look at the charges and assess the situation, they won’t have any comment,� the spokesman said. Rob Kelley, attorney for Pedus Security Services Inc., employer of the building’s security guards, said he had not seen all the charges, “but there is absolutely no basis to the charges filed against Pedus. We are amazed that we have even been charged at all, considering the number of lives saved by Pedus personnel who risked their own lives.�

Last October, the U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration cited four of the same companies named in Wednesday’s complaint for knowingly allowing hazardous conditions to exist at First Interstate Tower at the time of the devastating fire on May 4.

OSHA’s citations, which propose penalties totaling $82,000, are being litigated, according to Frank Gravitt, director of the agency’s Los Angeles office.

Also charged were Equitable Life Assurance Society of the United States, California Bank Realty Corp., First Interstate Bank Ltd., and First Interstate Bancorp., all part-owners of the building or tenants on the building’s 12th floor.

The other defendants are Cosco Fire Protection Inc., which had been installing a sprinkler system in the building and allegedly had shut down the water supply without notifying the Fire Department; Commercial Building Maintenance Co., and American Building Maintenance, both of which supplied janitorial services in the building.

The corporate defendants are scheduled to be arraigned May 24 in Los Angeles Municipal Court.

Not all of the defendants are charged in each count. Counts 1 and 2, for instance, allege that Handy’s death was caused by the failure to maintain a fire exit free of obstructions and by the failure to maintain fire protection equipment in operating condition.

Handy died when he took a freight elevator to check out what was suspected to be a false alarm. If the fire door in the vestibule area had not been blocked, “Handy would still be alive,� Guthman said.

Fire Department officials said after the blaze that the building’s security guards had repeatedly silenced the fire alarms originating on the 12th floor, causing a delay of at least seven minutes between the time the first alarm was sounded and the Fire Department was notified by people outside the building.

Times staff writer Edward J. Boyer contributed to this article.