Laguna Beach approves first phase of potential $166 million wildfire mitigation plan

Orange County Register (CA)

Aug. 5--Laguna Beach Mayor Bob Whalen looked across a deep ravine -- known as the "horseshoe" -- along Bluebird Canyon Road.

The area, flush with coastal sage, grasses and a cluster of more than two dozen eucalyptus trees standing nearly 80 feet tall, is an example of the 16,000 acres of open space that weaves through and around this seaside town.

Whalen calls the location a chokepoint. It is the exact spot where all residents who live in the canyon can enter and exit via a narrow, winding mountain road that sits below 421 properties in the box interior canyon.

The tranquility of undisturbed nature -- cliffs, canyons and dramatic views of the Pacific Ocean -- are reasons many choose to live here.

But the location also has a more ominous side.

Laguna and its surrounding open space are designated by Cal Fire as a Very High Fire Hazard Severity Zone, the hilly terrain and vegetation creating extreme fire risk. The designation has made it costly and challenging for homeowners to get fire insurance. Some residents have seen costs triple and others have had policies canceled.

Laguna has seen its share of destruction. On Oct. 27, 1993, a fire driven by Santa Ana winds torched more than 14,000 acres, led to the evacuation of 23,000 people and destroyed 441 homes in one day.

Two more fires -- in 2015 and 2018 -- also burned through acres of open space surrounding the city.

Laguna Beach mayor Bob Whalen looks over the "horseshoe" on Bluebird Canyon Drive. Bluebird Canyon Drive is one of the areas identified by the recently released Wildfire Mitigation and Fire Safety Report as among the most dangerous in the city. (Photo by Jeff Gritchen, Orange County Register/SCNG)

"There's certainly potential for a devastating fire to come through here and trap people," Whalen said Thursday, Aug. 1, as he overlooked the "horseshoe" with Laguna Beach Fire Chief Mike Garcia and Jordan Villwock, the city's emergency operations coordinator. "That's why we're widening the road and evaluating the 29 eucalyptus trees here and (20 more) up Bluebird Canyon. We just have to do what we can do. These steps are just really the first steps. Neighbors will have to join the city and do their own effort controlling vegetation and hardening their homes."

The steps Whalen refers to are the short-term recommendations of a Wildfire Mitigation and Fire Safety report reviewed and approved for implementation by the City Council. The report was compiled by a subcommittee headed by Whalen and Councilwoman Sue Kempf, with the goal of analyzing fire risks and developing funding for an action plan.

The report -- developed over seven months with data collected from trips to Paradise, the Northern California town virtually destroyed by November's Camp Fire, and discussions with officials who oversaw the Woolsey Fire in Malibu -- is a roadmap designed to ensure Laguna Beach, its 23,000 residents, and nearly 7 million annual visitors are as safe as possible.

On July 23, the council approved nearly $23 million for wildfire mitigation efforts included in the report's 29 short-term goals. If all components of the report were to be implemented, the full cost over the next decade could be $166 million.

Over the next two years, the fire department will continue to develop a fuel modification program that was instituted after the 1993 fire, with hundreds of goats and hand crews being used to clear dry brush and vegetation. A new city position will be created for an inspector to oversee brush removal and to serve as a fire-preparedness resource for residents.

Power poles -- in areas such as Bluebird Canyon, Coast Highway and Park Avenue -- will be buried. Evacuation routes will be improved by adding signage and installing signals that can be turned to green to allow expedited evacuations in the event of a disaster. The city also will add fire detection cameras and two helicopter filling stations.

There are also plans to beef up an already robust public notification system. Though Laguna Beach earlier this year was the first city in Orange County to activate its own wireless emergency alert system, a larger outdoor warning system that would run via satellite is the next step, Villwock said. Three of the outdoor speakers already operate in the city's downtown, Main Beach and Heisler Park. At least 18 speakers will be added.

Plans also call for the development of an interactive evacuation map using global positioning technology to direct people to safe routes in real time. The city already is connected with AlertOC and Nixle.

Most of the funding for short-term mitigation -- $16 million -- has been secured. About $10 million worth of utility undergrounding credits have been purchased from other cities and $4.7 million is coming from a state grant. Another $1.3 million could come from local water districts. To complete the funding, the council awarded $6.9 million from various city funds.

City officials want to remove obstacles that could fall in a disaster and block the only way out for more than 400 homes. (Photo by Jeff Gritchen, Orange County Register/SCNG)

Resident Sonny Myers, who heads the city's community emergency response team, said moving forward with items identified in the report seems obvious. "The entire town needs to be safe, viable and resilient," he said. "If we have a Paradise-style incident and it blows over in one night, we're going to have 23,000 homeless people."

But resident Michele Monda worries about the city's spending.

"How many people are you planning to give free undergrounding?" she asked during the recent council meeting where the report was presented. "I'm concerned no one is paying attention to fiscal responsibility."

The council also approved 16 mid-term and long-term recommendations. Funding for those is estimated at $9.4 million and $135.8 million, respectively. But, the council must authorize the items and spending during its 2021 two-year budget discussion.

"This is a complete approach to look at all aspects, not just fire prevention," Garcia said.

"It's looking at evacuation, it's looking at the basics of how do we alert everybody to get out," he said. "I really love that complete whole concept that this report gives us."

Whalen pushed the City Council to form the sub-committee in January, after Measure P -- a 1% sales tax over 25 years to bury power lines under major evacuation routes -- failed to win the necessary two-thirds majority on Nov. 6. He had worked hard to get the public informed and said he was disappointed when it didn't pass.

"You either stop and say I lost the battle or you go on," he said. "It took me a month or two to recover. I realized this fire risk isn't going away."

Laguna Beach mayor Bob Whalen looks Moulton Meadows. (Photo by Jeff Gritchen, Orange County Register/SCNG)

Whalen, who's lived in Laguna for 35 years, said he understands the risk all too well. A public finance attorney, he was in his office at Newport Center in 1993 when he looked out his window to see a 20,000-foot plume of smoke coming from North Laguna, where he lived.

He rushed toward Laguna Beach through Corona del Mar, only to be informed by a neighbor coming out of Laguna that Coast Highway had been closed. The 73 Toll Road didn't exist, so Whalen drove toward the 405 Freeway, taking it to Crown Valley Parkway to enter Laguna from the south.

At home, his wife had their minivan crammed to the gills. Before they left, Whalen rushed to hose down his shake roof.

"I was looking at the reservoir up the hill at High Drive and I saw the helicopter coming down and scooping water," he said. "It was like spitting into a pond. The fire was so intense and the wind was coming toward the ocean. The smoke and fire coming over the hills looked like it was coming from a jet engine. Then the wind shifted and I saw it jump the canyon and that's when the major devastation happened in Mystic Hills. That's a day I just don't forget. It's a small miracle no one was killed in the fire but there was lots of devastation, heartache and disrupted lives for years."

On July 3, 2015, he was reminded of the dangers again, when a tree fell into utility wires causing a power surge that sparked flames, resulting in a 15-acre wildfire. This time, Whalen was at home and saw the plumes come out of the canyon. Laguna Canyon Road was closed, so he ran all the way to Canyon Acres to meet with the fire chief and the incident commander.

Thanks to a DC-10 that flew in from Hemet, the fire was stopped, he said. But, it wasn't the first fire in the canyon sparked by overhead utility lines.

That night, Whalen said, he sat down and wrote a letter to Southern California Edison warning that the above-ground utility lines posed an imminent threat to public safety.

"In 2015, people looked at us like we were saying 'the sky is falling,'" he said. "Now, utility companies see fire safety as the main thing. They've spent lots of efforts to reduce their legal exposure."

In 2017, there were 17 major wildfires caused by overhead utility lines and equipment that burned more than 190,000 acres, destroyed 3,200 structures and claimed 22 lives statewide, according to data from Cal Fire.

In May, Cal Fire announced the devastation in Paradise was caused by PG&E overhead utility lines. The wind-driven fire killed 85 people, destroyed 18,804 homes and burned 150,000 acres.

Whalen, Garcia and Villwock saw the aftermath firsthand.

"It was another beautiful community of 23,000," Garcia said. "Now there are only about 2,000 to 8,000 people there. It's complete devastation. We don't want to see that here."

Laguna officials now want to present the plan to the state Office of Emergency Services and to the governor.

"It can become a template for other communities," Whalen said. "We have the game plan in place and now we need to execute on it. I know we can't eliminate fire risk in Laguna but it feels good to have developed a plan that will reduce the risk in a meaningful way over time."

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