Wind, Arson, Reluctant Evacuees Equal Disaster : Post-mortem: A veteran Orange County Fire Department official discusses the many tragic elements of the Laguna Canyon fire and what steps to take next.

Q: Have officials determined a cause for the fire?

A: It is arson. We have ruled out all possibilities for accidental ignition. There was no physical possibility of the cause being accidental. The absence of (utility) wires or anything like that leads us to the conclusion that someone stepped into the brush and deliberately ignited it.

We are looking for anyone with information on a vehicle or a person in the area of the fire about 11:45 a.m. Wednesday about a mile south of the (San Diego Freeway) on the west side of Laguna Canyon Road.

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Q: What were the biggest problems in fighting the fire?

A: It was people not leaving their homes when we asked them to. That is the worst problem that could be have been solved. There were several hundreds of people. They have right to be there, but as a result, we lost more homes than we should have (because firefighters had to worry about evacuations.)

There was also the physical conditions. The wind was constant at 40 m.p.h. with gusts up to 78 m.p.h. The relative humidity was 7% and fuel moisture was 4%. These are clearly circumstances for disaster.

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Q: Did you have enough water to fight the fire?

A: This community does not have a water system that could meet our demands, nor could any city. You have an event like yesterday, you need an amount that any city would need to deal with this. We don’t expect to have much water.

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Q: How big was the fire?

A: Laguna Beach south of Laguna Canyon Road. The area that burned was larger than the Oakland hills fire (in 1991). We have a tremendous amount of homes still standing, so by comparison, it could have been a lot worse. Oakland burned less than 3,000 acres and lost 3,000 structures. Ours burned over 10,000 acres and our losses at this point are just over 300 homes.

But this is certainly the worst fire devastation this community has ever seen, and hopefully there will be some lessons learned.

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Q: What kind of lessons?

A: Make your communities non-combustible. The same things that make the city quaint and a desirable place to live make it a disaster in fire conditions. There are homes built close together, homes with flammable roofs and sides. There is dated or aged vegetation, trees built up and grown right up the hills and onto the homes. It was amazing the crews were able to put them out. We should have lost the whole city. It’s amazing so much was saved.

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Q: Were fire crews prepared to fight this fire?

A: The crews were certainly prepared. That’s what we do. When these large fires begin in fairly remote areas and are driven by 70-m.p.h. winds, historically, for 100 years, no effort puts these fires out. These fires typically will burn until they run out of fuel or until the wind stops. If we are trained well and apply tactics, we can put a large number of firefighters in the right area at the right time and bend the sides of the fire and make it go around neighborhoods.

These firefighters saved a countless number of homes. It was something to watch. Time after time after time, I saw firefighters running into areas that everyone was running out of.

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Q: Were there any injuries?

A: There were no injuries or deaths to civilians that we know of, and I consider that a tribute to the crews’ ability to get these folks out when they shouldn’t have had to. There were 19 firefighter injures, but only one went to hospital. The other 18 wanted to get bandaged up and get back in the line.

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Q: How many people were evacuated?

A: There were more than 27,000 people evacuated but only a few hundred have been allowed back in. In Emerald Bay, they are letting people back in. It’s on a street-by-street basis. As time goes on, the security issues become more and more of a concern.