PARK AGENCIES PUT 5-STORY SCREEN ON WISH LIST FOR NEW VISITORS CENTER.

Byline: Kevin F. Sherry Daily News Staff Writer

Imagine sitting in air-conditioned comfort as you watch a five-story wall of flame barrel down on you.

That's the kind of thrill state and federal park agencies hope to bring to Ventura County through the construction of a giant-screen theater complex, complete with a center for visitors.

Discussions about the center are very preliminary, and organizers haven't yet decided on a site, said National Park Service Ranger Charles Taylor.

The state also ``is very interested in looking at the concept,'' said Dan Preece, superintendent for the Angeles District of the California State Parks.

Preece said graphic displays of cinematic wildfires could be used as way to teach fire safety at a joint state-federal theater. Other films could familiarize visitors with plant and animal life in the local mountains or show them how the area's ecosystem works, he said.

``There are so many possibilities it's really exciting,'' Preece said. ``Visitors centers serve a lot of purposes. Mainly they're fun.''

Preece likes the idea of taking schools and large groups of people on cinematic tours of the parks.

Both agencies would pay for the visitors center, which could be located along the Pacific Coast Highway for easy access, Taylor said.

Ventura County could model its theater after the one at the Hearst Castle in San Simeon, Preece said.

A $6 million theater opened at the castle in August 1996, said Bill Kramer, superintendent of operations at Hearst Castle. The theater holds about 400 people, who view movies on a screen that is 70 feet wide and as tall as a five-story building.

Attendance at the castle had dropped for about six years, then began to rise soon after the theater was built, Kramer said. An improving economy might be responsible for the increased attendance, he said, but the theater might have helped. About 820,000 people visited the castle in the 12-month period through June 30, and almost 30 percent of them took time to watch a big-screen movie, Kramer said.

The theater shows two movies - one about San Simeon creator William Randolph Hearst, the other about whales.

Area schools regularly bring students for viewings, and the theater definitely has increased attendance by local residents, Kramer said.

``It's really drawn from the local community,'' he said.