As Fires Fade, O.C. Turns to Recovery : Inferno: Most blazes are reported under control and Laguna Beach conflagration is declared extinguished. The Ortega Highway fire is 75% contained.

As fire officials declared Sunday that last week’s calamitous fire finally has been extinguished, the city mayor promised burned-out residents that they’ll be able to swiftly cut through the city bureaucracy when they rebuild.

“All fire, all hot spots are controlled and out” as of 6 p.m. Sunday, said Kathleen Cha, an Orange County Fire Department spokeswoman. Ten fire engines patrolled the area throughout the night to make sure the fire, which burned more than 16,000 acres and destroyed 366 homes, did not start again.

Meanwhile, Mayor Lida Lenney moved Sunday to reassure displaced residents that those who want to rebuild their homes just like they were before the fire could bypass provisions of city code and should be able to move back in within a year.

“If you simply want to rebuild what you had, my understanding is you won’t have to go through the building permit process and all of that,” Lenney said in an interview. “We’re going to do the best we can to help them rebuild without any problems.”

That means homeowners could speed rebuilding and may do so without being constrained by city setback ordinances that restrict the distance a house must be built from the street, Lenney said.

The mayor’s words offered some measure of good news for homeowners confronted with bureaucratic mazes as they seek to recover losses from insurance carriers, apply for help from the federal government and begin piecing their lives back together.

David Horne, whose Mystic Hills home was destroyed in the Laguna Beach blaze, said such assurances--likely to be discussed at Tuesday’s regular City Council meeting--could help resolve concerns about what he sees as a lack of post-fire leadership by the city.

“Obviously, the faster we can move (to rebuild), the better off everyone will be,” said Horne, 44, a Cal State Long Beach business professor. “The City Council is certainly helping, but they’ve got to start taking a leadership position. Someone’s got to stand forward.”

But Horne isn’t waiting for the council to take the lead in the rebuilding effort. He and about five other homeowners in the Bounty Way neighborhood already have begun talking with a local architect to help devise an overall scheme for the reconstructed area.

“I’m not trying to force an architect on anybody, but it’s just a matter of staying together so we know what everybody is doing,” he said. “If we’re clever about it, we can make it really nice, and minimize blockage and maximize our views and privacy.”

The devastating fire erupted late Wednesday morning in sage brush in Laguna Canyon and caused at least $270 million in damage. The estimate is expected to go higher.

Fire officials said the blaze, contained but still smoldering in some areas in recent days, was fully extinguished Sunday evening.

Orange County Fire Department spokeswoman Emmy Day said firefighters spent much of the day monitoring hot spots that could arise from the thick, ashy remains of gutted homes. With the ash acting as a blanket that can retain heat, burned areas are considered potentially active for 48 hours following a fire, she said.

But the threat was considered over as of 6 p.m. in the absence of any flare-ups.

However, in the area around Ortega Highway in rural eastern Orange County, flames from a 20,500-acre fire that destroyed 25 homes were 75% contained by late Sunday evening. It is the second largest blaze in acreage in county history, trailing only a 1948 fire in Santa Ana Canyon, officials said.

U.S. Forest Service firefighters began scaling down forces as officials estimated the Ortega Highway fire would be contained by late Monday evening, said Forest Service spokesman Mike Wirtz.

But firefighters were wary about a possible return of Santa Ana winds.

“So far the winds have been cooperative, so that, plus a lot of hard work by a lot of men and women, mean we’re in pretty good shape right now,” Wirtz said. “We are concerned, though, about the Santa Anas. If we can get through the next few days without any serious stuff, we’ll be doing great.”

Around the region, fire officials predicted all of the 14 fires that have burned across six Southland counties for much of the last week would be totally contained by today or Tuesday.

More than 168,000 acres and 731 structures burned over the past week, causing at least $500 million in damage. Paul Flores of the California Office of Emergency Services on Sunday called the dollar damage figure “very preliminary,” adding: “We expect it to go up.”

Forecasters had earlier expected a return of dry Santa Ana winds by early in the week--an ominous condition in the still-tinder dry canyons and foothills. But even that threat appeared to be waning Sunday as meteorologists said the gusts are not likely to be as strong as those that produced nearly explosive fire conditions last week.

“Basically, we’re in a downswing and the general feeling is that we’ve finally conquered it,” Ventura County fire spokesman O.J. Hunt said in remarks that were echoed throughout the fire zone.

Back in Orange County, community members and organizations throughout the county have continued rallying around victims of the disaster, volunteering services and financial support.

The Orange County chapter of the Red Cross has already collected $200,000 to aid victims, Chief Executive Officer George M. Chitty said Sunday. “Support has been outstanding,” he said.

The victims were also mentioned in many prayers Sunday, as local churches took note of the tragedy.

At St. Paul’s Lutheran Church in Laguna Beach, which has been accepting offers of help from as far away as Long Island, N.Y., the Rev. Richard Schumm said: “Attendance today was much larger than usual, about 200 or so. Our theme was praise and thanksgiving rather than Reformation, which is the holiday theme we normally celebrate on this day. The point of the message was you can lose things, but nothing can take our faith away from us.”

On another front, about 150 victims of the Laguna Beach fire gathered in a gymnasium Sunday night to hear State Farm Insurance officials explain the process for filing a claim. A company spokesman said State Farm has received about 300 fire-related claims in Laguna Beach, including about 85 from policyholders whose homes were destroyed.

“What’s really important is that our customers understand the process,” said William S. Sirola, a State Farm spokesman. “That’s what this meeting is about.”

Even as the immediate danger passed, Laguna Beach continued to be a focus of attention for people outside the area as well.

A TV crew from ABC’s “Nightline” arrived at the Ritz-Carlton hotel in Dana Point to shoot a segment for this week’s show.

And state Sen. Art Torres (D-Los Angeles), chairman of the Senate Insurance Committee, announced he will meet with Orange County residents at 7 p.m. todayat Presbyterian Church at 415 Forest Ave. in Laguna Beach. He will be joined by victims of the 1991 Oakland hills fire to discuss how to handle insurance claims.

“A lot of people just don’t know what their insurance rights are,” said Torres aide Dario Frommer, adding that many victims of the Oakland fire are still grappling with insurance claims. “This is basically a workshop to help people avoid the pitfalls.”

For their part, officials with the Federal Emergency Management Agency, who have set up shop at the Laguna Beach City Hall, sought Sunday to make the financial recovery process as painless as possible as they continued to take applications for aid. That begins a months-long process of assessing losses and distributing out aid.

But the responses were somewhat mixed from fire victims who filled out applications and met with federal disaster representatives to learn about what help they could receive.

“From what I’m hearing, it’s all based on (low-interest) loans,” said Larry Nelson, 49, a real estate developer who lost Oriental rugs, crystal, antiques and other valuables at the Laguna Beach home he rented. “You still have to pay it back, so it’s not like you’re recovering (your losses).”

But Tim and Alexis Cunningham, who lost all their belongings in the Canyon Acres Drive home that they rented, came away impressed after meeting with FEMA officials.

“We left with the feeling that everything’s going to be fine,” said Tim Cunningham, 47, a landscaper. “We really have a much better feeling that when we first went in.”

For those who needed more than just financial assistance, county health workers provided crisis counseling at the FEMA center, meeting with residents in small storage rooms to help ease them through the recent tension.

“What we’re hearing mainly from people is a feeling of being totally overwhelmed by all this,” said Susan Jenan, a clinical social worker for the county Health Care Agency. “They think they shouldn’t be feeling this emotional. So I tell them it’s very normal and encourage them to go to support groups to talk to people with the same types of problems.”

It will take time for Laguna Beach to heal, Mayor Lenney acknowledged Sunday.

She said the City Council’s meeting Tuesday--its first since the fire--will take the form of a town hall forum for residents to air their fears and frustrations about the disaster as the city continues its “healing process.”

The mayor said many people understandably have begun pointing fingers over the severity of the destruction, examining such issues as whether the city should have approved the construction of a new reservoir.

At the City Hall complex Sunday, one resident even shoved Lenney after heatedly “blaming me for the loss of his house,” she said.

“I know in a situation like this, people get angry, and I’m going to be a target of that anger,” she said.

Lenney said that at Tuesday’s meeting, she intends to discuss the rebuilding process, assuaging concerns that residents have to go through a long and difficult procedure to construct anew. In fact, the mayor said, she expects that people wanting to build a home essentially the same as its predecessor should be able to move back in within a year.

One issue that often proves contentious in the push for bigger houses is the setback--or distance from the house to the property borders. Under city building codes last revised in June, 1992, a typical home must stand 20 feet from its front and back boundaries.

While these setback requirements are enforced for new homes, Laguna Beach City Councilwoman Ann Christoph said the city has adopted a more liberal approach than most other municipalities in allowing exemptions for homes that are destroyed or damaged and need rebuilding.

In the wake of the fire, most homeowners should be able to reconstruct their homes to the same dimensions--even in violation of city codes--so long as they do not pose “some health and safety concern,” said Christoph, who serves on the city’s Design Review Task Force.

But those looking to build up after the fire may have problems. For instance, if a homeowner wanted to add an extra floor in rebuilding a burned home--and threatened a neighbor’s view in the process--the resident should expect a more rigorous permit review. “That’s another case entirely, and that would definitely be of concern,” Christoph said.

Times staff writers Dave Lesher, James Rainey and Jeffrey Perlman contributed to this report.

Southland Fires: An Update

Here is the status of brush fires burning as of Sunday in the Southland. A fire is controlled when its perimeter is no longer expanding. The term containment, usually accompanied by a percentage, is used to describe how much of a fire is under control--although parts of it may still be burning.

ORANGE COUNTY

Laguna Beach

* Acres: 16,682

* Damage: 366 homes destroyed

* Status: Extinguished Sunday evening

Ortega

* Acres: 20,500

* Damage: 20 to 25 structures damaged

* Status: 75% contained

LOS ANGELES COUNTY

Altadena/Sierra Madre

* Acres: 5,700

* Damage: 151 structures destroyed

* Status: 85% contained

RIVERSIDE COUNTY

Winchester

* Acres: 25,100

* Damage: 107 homes damaged or destroyed

* Status: 90% contained

SAN DIEGO COUNTY

Escondido

* Acres: 20,722

* Damage: Three structures lost

* Status: 90% contained

VENTURA COUNTY

Thousand Oaks/Malibu

* Acres: 42,000

* Damage: 68 structures lost

* Status: 95% contained

Steckel Park

* Acres: 26,500

* Damage: Eight structures lost

* Status: 90% contained

Ojai

* Acres: 1,650

* Damage: No structures

* Status: 90% contained

A Way to Say Thanks

The fires brought out the best in Orange County residents, many of whom helped their neighbors under the most difficult of conditions. There were acts of heroism by firefighters and acts of assistance by law enforcement officers and others. If there are people you would like to thank for their help during or after the fires, we would like to hear from you--with the objective of publishing your comments. To offer words of thanks to someone who helped you, a loved one or a friend, call TimesLink at (714) 808-8463, then press * 8330 to leave a recorded message. Please provide your name and a phone number where you can be reached, as well as any information you have on the person who helped.