Getty Fire: Getty Center was designed to be fire resistant, expert says
LOS ANGELES (KABC) -- The Getty Center is packed with priceless art, but the top risk concern for the facility is not theft - it's fire.
"Logically you'd think it'd be something like Danny Ocean stealing art or something like that, but what it turned out to be was fire," security and risk management expert Hal Kempfer told ABC7 after the Getty Center fire erupted Monday. "Wildland fire and brush fire was their biggest risk, and the entire center was designed with that in mind."
MORE: Getty Fire Map -- Road, school closures continue as mandatory evacuations ordered near museum
Kempfer said the Getty Center was designed to be fire resistant. The anti-fire elements include the materials used to construct the museum, the way the eaves were built and how the landscaping was designed, he said.
"It's a rather interesting, structural anomaly in Southern California, that it was designed with fire in mind," Kempfer said.
Kempfer added that the Getty Center's first security master was a senior fire official.
"He was very up front and he said fire is our biggest risk," he said, adding that the biggest fear was that a fire would get into the center and the art work would be destroyed in the flames.
The Getty Fire ignited along the Sepulveda Pass Monday. The wind-driven blaze spread quickly and destroyed multiple homes. However, its flames did not reach the Getty Center. Click here for the latest on the Getty Fire.
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