Outside Backup Thwarted Looting : Law enforcement: Laguna officials praise 240 officers from other cities who answered call.

City officials on Friday credited the prominent presence of police officers from around the county with helping prevent looting and loss of life during the Laguna Beach fire.

More than 240 officers from 20 law enforcement agencies converged on the city Wednesday afternoon after the beleaguered Laguna Beach Police Department sent out a call for reinforcements.

The extra officers helped evacuate thousands of residents from threatened homes, directed traffic and aided firefighters. Later that night, they manned roadblocks and patrolled deserted neighborhoods to guard against looting.

“We couldn’t have operated without them,” said Laguna Beach City Manager Kenneth C. Frank. “They were instrumental.”

The need for outside police assistance became clear early in the crisis, when flames burned so close to City Hall that the Police Department was filled with smoke.

Although no Laguna Beach officers lost their homes in the blaze, the disaster exacted an emotional toll on many of them, city officials said.

“What affected me the most was seeing people when they saw their homes,” said Margie Wagener, a Laguna Beach reserve officer who spent much of Thursday staffing a roadblock.

“Yesterday, it was adrenaline working,” Wagener said. “I stood at my post for 12 hours. Never sat down. Didn’t take a break. That’s part of the job.”

Police departments big and small contributed to the emergency effort, many by canceling days off and ordering off-duty officers into the field.

The Orange County Sheriff’s Department sent 145 deputies, while El Monte police instructed an officer who lives in Laguna Beach to work his shift there, said Sheriff’s Lt. Dick Olson. “They knew he was needed down here,” Olson said.

Huntington Beach police dispatched 28 officers to Laguna Beach on Wednesday, including a helicopter crew, several supervisors and workers to run a trailer filled with radio equipment and computers, said Police Chief Ronald E. Lowenberg. About 20 of those officers remained in Laguna Beach through Thursday.

The smaller Seal Beach Police Department sent a captain accompanied by several volunteer ham radio operators, who had hoped their equipment would improve communications during the emergency.

Seal Beach police also agreed to patrol the neighboring unincorporated communities of Rossmoor and Sunset Beach so the Sheriff’s Department could focus more of its resources on Laguna Beach, said Seal Beach Lt. Kenny Mollohan.

Anaheim police sent out eight officers on Wednesday, even though the department had to deal with its own destructive fire in the Anaheim Hills area earlier that day.