By Doane Yawger
The Merced Sun-Star (California)
Copyright 2006 The Merced Sun-Star
All Rights Reserved
No cause has been established for a three-alarm fire early Sunday morning that destroyed the west end of the Merced County Courts Complex in Merced, causing between $600,000 and $700,000 in damage.
A representative of the State Fire Marshal’s Office will join a local investigative team this morning to determine a cause and point of origin for the 5:25 a.m. fire, which destroyed five offices of three deputy district attorneys and their secretaries.
Frank Dougherty, presiding Merced County Superior Court judge, said the courts complex will be operating today in other areas although some court cases may have to be continued.
An informational kiosk will be established at West 21st and M streets to tell the public about today’s court calendar.
Dougherty said judges met Sunday night to determine today’s strategy and were very disappointed that the fire took place.
“We will do our best to have business as normal. We have to make sure the court functions without missing a beat,” Dougherty said.
Merced City Fire Chief Ken Mitten praised firefighters’ efforts for holding major damage to about a third of the courthouse building, which was built 51 years ago. About 3,000 square feet of office area was damaged by the fire.
“They (firefighters) did a heck of a job cutting the fire off. Our primary strategy involved a trench-cut operation which cut the fire off. But it will be a considerable loss,” Mitten said.
No injuries were reported battling the fire.
Seventeen city firefighters, five staff officers and four Atwater firefighters responded to the blaze, which shot flames 60 to 70 feet into the air.
The fire was reported by a Merced County Sheriff’s Department sergeant and reported under control about 7:15 a.m.
The state fire marshal will be joined by Division Chief Leonard Franco, the sheriff’s department Major Crimes Unit, Merced Police Department detectives, the county fire department and California Department of Forestry in today’s fire probe.
Franco said after the fire was placed under control, firefighters focused during the day on carefully removing records from the assistant district attorney’s office and securing the building for today’s investigation into the cause.
Deputy District Attorney Larry Morse II, due to be appointed district attorney Tuesday by Merced County supervisors following District Attorney Gordon Spencer’s resignation Friday, said the fire forces his office to “regroup a little bit.”
“Obviously this is going to be a disruption. Management staff has already met and figured out where to put people. Anyone with pending cases should know we have a pretty thorough backup system,” Morse said.
The office of Assistant District Attorney Joe Tresidder was destroyed along with those of deputy district attorneys Jim Martin and Isaac Escobedo and their secretaries.
Morse is in the midst of the murder trial of Armando Lopez Chacon. He is hoping that trial will be done by Wednesday although he may seek a one-day continuance today.
“I can’t thank the fire guys enough for their first-rate professional work. The whole building could have gone up,” Morse said. His office only received smoke damage and is intact but unusable.
Merced County Chief Executive Officer Dee Tatum said the new two-story courts complex is due to be finished in January or February but the older courts complex was still to be used.
Merced County Supervisors Chairman Mike Nelson said the fire puts a crimp in the county’s operations.
“It’s never a good thing when you have a fire. I thank Merced firefighters for doing a good job of knocking it down,” Nelson said.
Merced Fire Engineer Ryan Wells said fire was coming out the front windows on the west side of the building when he arrived. He said firefighters could see a large column of black smoke when they left their headquarters at East 16th and G streets.
Fire Capt. Jeff Cole was on the first engine to arrive on the scene.
“I knew we had our work cut out for us. On older buildings with lots of lath and plaster, it makes for a very hot fire. It was going pretty good,” Cole said.
While there is no electricity or air conditioning in the building, the eastern portion of the courts complex mainly sustained quite a bit of soot damage, Dougherty said. Departments 1, 2 and 3 will be inoperative with court functions shifted to other areas.