PARK OFFICES TAKE REPAIRS IN STRIDE.

Byline: Enrique Rivero Daily News Staff Writer

They survived the fire. Now they have to survive the repairs.

For the past week, Rancho Simi Recreation and Park District officials have had to put up with the banging, clanging and sawing of workers repairing the second floor of the district's Sycamore Drive administration office, which was damaged in a fire in September.

``It's more of an annoyance, but it needs to be done,'' said district spokesman Rick Johnson as saws buzzed away in the background.

Still, he said, it's better than the smoke damage from the fire - which made things uncomfortable around his office for about a month after the blaze.

``The smell from the smoke was awful,'' said Johnson, whose office is about 25 feet away from the work.

Since then the drapes have been removed, the carpets have been cleaned and the walls painted, getting rid of the smell with it.

The Sept. 18 blaze swept through the building's storage and workshop areas, damaging about 1,000 square feet of the second floor and causing about $100,000 in damage, according to Johnson.

The fire destroyed maintenance supplies, including spray cans, nuts and bolts, wood, nails, tennis balls, basketballs and paper goods for crafts classes.

But the flames missed the first floor where expensive equipment, such as a computer system that regulates irrigation throughout the district and a communications system, is kept.

Ventura County Fire Department investigators later determined that the blaze had been caused by faulty wiring, Johnson said.

The fire, which was reported just after 7:30 that night, started while three groups were meeting at the four-building complex. The Simi Valley Trail Blazers spotted the flames and alerted the Fire Department, then carried on with its meeting.

No one was hurt in the fire.

The repairs are being performed by Hawthorne-based DTEC Construction on a $95,000 contract, said Wayne Nakaoka, development coordinator in the district's planning department. The costs are covered by insurance, he said.

Work began Monday and should be complete by March 28, he said.

Meanwhile, several employees who used the workshop have been moved to other parts of the building, and salvageable material is temporarily being stored in metal sheds, he said.

Nakaoka said DTEC has done a clean, expert job at demolishing the second floor. ``They're tearing it down piece by piece; it's pretty much done,'' he said.

As far as the noise, it doesn't bother Nakaoka at all. After all, he said, he does work for the district's planning department, much of whose work revolves around construction. ``We're kind of used to it,'' Nakaoka said.