THE SOUTHLAND FIRESTORM: IMPACT ON BUSINESS : Hughes’ Priority Was Saving Its Knowledge

The Hughes Research Laboratories, the corporate think tank in Malibu that narrowly avoided being burned to the ground early Wednesday morning, has long been a breeding ground for new technology.

The labs, which despite their name encompass a single site just east of Pepperdine University on Malibu Canyon Road, are the scientific brain trust of defense and electronics giant Hughes Aircraft Co., a subsidiary of General Motors Corp.

Previously little known to the public, the Hughes labs became a focal point of the blaze as live television coverage chronicled the fire’s rapid descent through the canyons toward the 72-acre facility. At one point, the labs were encircled by fire.

But the structures emerged largely undamaged, although the surrounding brush was consumed. “We’re very much singed around the edges,” said Dan Enright, the labs’ director of finance and administration.

The Hughes labs are renowned in the aerospace and electronics fields for having developed such breakthroughs as the first working laser, ultra-small electronics for satellites and powerful light displays for air traffic control systems.

“Much of the work is component-oriented,” as opposed to developing full-scale satellites or missiles, said George F. Smith, who headed the labs for 15 years until retiring in 1988. “The objective is to build something that can be used in the business of the company.”

And after the scientists go home, the Malibu City Council uses the labs’ auditorium for its weekly meetings.

The facility, opened in 1959, has two main sets of buildings: one split-level and a three-story addition. They are surrounded by hillsides that were covered by dense brush--until Tuesday.

After the fire started that morning, Hughes put the labs’ 430 scientists, engineers and other employees on alert that they might have to evacuate, Enright said. At 12:30 p.m., that order was given.

About 390 workers left; the rest stayed to fight the fire and protect the buildings. As the evacuated employees left, Hughes security teams took valuable disks containing some of the labs’ computer data, put them in cars and drove them to safety, Enright said.

The employees “were invited” to take their own disks--and even their computers. Some did.

Hughes then called in its own firefighters from its plants in El Segundo and Fullerton to join local crews. Surprisingly, the lab’s electricity and water continued to function normally, although the telephones periodically failed, Enright said.

There are “a variety of chemicals in small quantities” inside the labs, but they did not pose a serious threat even if the fire had consumed the buildings, he said, adding that none of the materials are involved in nuclear research.

But outside, there was concern about two tanks of dangerous gases: propane and nitrogen.

The propane tank has its own “deluge system,” in which water is automatically and continually poured over the tank to keep it cool. As for the nitrogen tank, fire crews kept pouring water on the tank with the help of a 300,000-gallon reservoir that Hughes installed on the grounds, Enright said.

Having survived two other major Malibu blazes in 1970 and 1985 that were fanned by blistering winds, the labs were prepared for the latest brush fire in other ways.

During the past two months, “we had done some ‘firescaping’ ” in which brush was cleared from the buildings’ perimeter, Enright said. That step “gave us the opportunity to fight it off” once the fire got close.

It got very close. After jumping west across Malibu Canyon Road about 8 p.m., the fire quickly moved toward the Pacific--the labs directly in its path. But as firefighters kept the flames at bay, the fire moved completely around and past the buildings.

Even though the labs’ primary asset--its employees’ scientific knowledge--was safe, Enright said the labs’ destruction still “would have set us back,” because of notebooks, blueprints, half-finished experiments and computer data that would have been lost.

The employees, he added, “can’t take 100% of their recall.”

Hughes executives said the facility will remain closed today.