Structural Fire

Structural fires, which typically involve only a single structure, are the most common fires that are battled routinely by local fire departments. Common causes of structure fires include arson, electrical problems, combustibles to close to heat sources, unattended cooking and misuse of smoking materials. The combination of building materials, density, fire flow, hydrant location, response time of emergency equipment and natural conditions can exacerbate potential structural fire disasters.

Wildland Fire

There are three levels of fire hazard zones within the wildlands surrounding the City. These zones are adapted from a fire hazard severity classification system for California wildlands developed by the State of California Department of Forestry. These classes are moderate, high and extreme fire hazard. This classification utilizes field investigation and present topographical information to define the fire hazard classes based upon three criteria: (1) Fuel Loading; (2) Fire Weather; (3) Slope.

Many factors affect the hazard potential presented from wildland fires. Some of the most prevalent factors include topography, vegetation, climate, development patterns, access and fire fighting capabilities to the area.

Hillsides and canyons dominate the topography of Laguna Beach. This topography channels airflow, creating extremely erratic winds on the slopes and in the canyons.

Along with the local topography, marine influences play a major role in the shaping of the fire hazard potential for the area. The topography and soils encountered in the San Joaquin Hills, influenced by the Pacific Ocean, have contributed to the plant environment found in Laguna Beach: coastal sage scrub, chaparral and grassland. The vegetation in Laguna Beach must be controlled via hand crews, grazing or burns periodically to avoid potentially hazardous conditions.

Climate is the single most important contributing factor to the fire problem. Santa Ana winds are a phenomenon caused by very dry and warm air originating from high-pressure systems over California. Precipitation has further effects on the moisture content of dead and living vegetation and hence has important effects on fire ignition and behavior potential. The wind is a separate factor once a large brushfire has begun.

Obviously development patterns can have considerable effect on fire ignition and rate of spreading. Some of the following neighborhoods have been identified as having critical development patterns with respect to fire hazard potential: Arch Beach Heights, Diamond/Crestview, Canyon Acres, Woodland/Milligan, the Olympic Village section of Upper Bluebird Canyon and the interface areas of South Laguna.

As discussed previously in this report, access is a prevalent concern for the fire department. Along with access, egress and ingress are equally important. The issue of road width inadequacy, illegal parking patterns and insufficient fire department turn around areas pose significant concerns for the department.

Firefighting capabilities are discussed in detail in a later section of this report.

Flooding

Laguna Canyon has historically been plagued with floods (1937, 1938, 1941, 1966, 1969, 1978, 1983, 1995 and 1998). Flooding is a direct response to the amount, distribution and intensity of precipitation. Most of the flash flood activity is along the canyons, the floors of which act as runoff channels for the watershed above. With the exceptions of Laguna, Bluebird and Aliso Canyons, most flash flood conditions in Laguna Beach are short lived in nature due to the limited size of the available watershed and the presence of drainage improvements.

Mud Slides

Mudslides are another hazard that concerns the fire department. Contributing factors to mudslides include steep terrain, stripped vegetation by fire or other cause, and repeated storms which saturate the soil and then deliver a downpour to wash it away. Several areas of Laguna Beach have experienced mudslides.

Other Risks

Other potential hazards facing Laguna Beach include:

• Earthquake
• High Speed Traffic Accidents
• Hazardous Material Incidents
• Shoreline Erosion
• Aircraft Crash
• Tsunami
• Oil Spills
• Marine Craft Incident/Sinking