Ashes to action: Lahaina’s lesson lands in Laguna Beach
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Lele Aloha, a Hawaiian nonprofit, was in Orange County last week to present a sobering documentary, “Lahaina: Voices of Change.” The organization, according to its mission statement, was created “to honor Hawai‘i’s rich genealogy for ‘ohana; protecting land, ocean, water resources, and building healthy communities — beginning with Lāhainā,” following the August 2023 wildfire that leveled the historic town and took the lives of more than 100 people.
The film was screened April 1 at the Rivian South Coast Theater in wildfire-vulnerable Laguna Beach as part of an evening that included a panel discussion on community preparedness that was covered for the Daily Pilot by my colleague Andrew Turner.
Turner found some of the film’s scenes painful to watch, he reported, “from newscasts reporting on the damage and the death toll, to visuals of a town reduced to ash in its aftermath.”
He quoted panelist Jeremy Delos Reyes, who lost his own home to the Maui fire and founded Kaiaulu Initiatives, a group dedicated to restoring Lahaina’s lush vegetation in a sustainable way. Delos Reyes said he’d had to step out of the Rivian during the first five minutes of the film’s screening because “it brought back a lot of pain.” He noted a lot of the community’s member seem to have been forgotten.
“These past couple of weeks, Hawaii has suffered a horrible flood, horrible rain event, couple storms back to back, and all of our plants held strong, like our community,” Delos Reyes said to a round of applause. “All the plants survived, but more so, what we found out through our initiative, was the mental health aspect.
“We always address our first responders, and we always address our victims, our survivors with mental health, but we forget about the public works, people that work for the county, city, and they go in and help. We often forget about the EMTs, because they got to wrap up, they got to process what they just saw, and move on to the next incident. … We often forget the public service, our county workers, because they seen a lot.”
Lessons learned from the Maui fire aren’t lost on many Laguna Beach residents, who often refer to the wildfire that swept through the community in 1993, devouring more than 16,000 acres and destroying 336 homes before it was extinguished.
So the panel discussion held following “Lahaina: Voices of Change,” was an opportunity to examine the extensive methods the coastal Orange County city has been undertaking in its efforts to avoid the kind of flame-borne destruction it has in the past. Local officials took the opportunity to encourage residents to make sure they’re adequately prepared before the next wildfire is ignited.
“I don’t hesitate to put our firefighters in front of any encroaching flame,” said Laguna Fire Chief Niko King, one of the evening’s panelists. “Our firefighters are brave, they’re trained, they’re the best ... but the one thing that I still lose sleep over is we had the sirens go off [for a test] last week — so many people didn’t know what they were. So many people don’t know what [evacuation] zones they live in.”
Panelist Archie Kalepa, founder and chief executive of Lele Aloha, echoed the sentiment that residents themselves have to shoulder the responsibility of preparedness.
“You know who has the best information in that community? You,” Kalepa told the audience. “We have to take responsibility ... We have been set by the way we’ve thought, and the way we think, that the fire department is going to take care of us, the emergency services are going to be there for us, the lifeguards are going to be there for us if it comes from the water. No. You are the responders’ first responders … That has to become second nature for us in our communities.”
MORE NEWS
• A noontime demonstration was held last week by healthcare workers seeking the reopening of the pediatric unit at UCI Health Fountain Valley that had been shuttered due to layoffs.
• A residential development featuring 100 market-rate condos known as the Residences at 1500 Quail Street will replace an existing office building near John Wayne Airport and become part of the Newport Place Planned Community, following last Thursday night’s approval of the Newport Beach Planning Commission.
• Chapman University in Orange, one of 60 U.S. institutions of higher learning targeted by the federal Department of Education’s Office of Civil Rights for alleged antisemitism, “quietly made a key change to the campus’ anti-discrimination and harassment policy” according to this report in TimesOC. While pro-Israel Jewish groups approved of Chapman’s change, some faculty members believe it conflates hate with legitimate criticism of Israel.
• For voters interested in learning more about the candidates seeking to be elected California Superintendent of Public Instruction: An online, public forum has been set for Saturday, April 25, from 9 to 10:30 a.m. Spaces are limited and pre-registration is required at mobilize.us/cpihub/event/924105/. This forum is co-hosted by the Anaheim-based nonprofit Contemporary Policy Institute and American Assn. of University Women of CA. According to a news release we received yesterday, seven of the 10 candidates are expected to participate.
BUSINESS
• It seems like it was only yesterday when Costa Mesa welcomed its second Trader Joe’s and the company continues to expand. According to the Los Angeles Times, a site in Anaheim Hills will soon be one of the grocer’s two new locations in the state, with the other expected to open in Paso Robles.
• The owners of Champagnes Kitchen in Newport Beach say they are expanding into Huntington Beach, where they’re taking over space that has housed an IHOP on Main Street. The new eatery is expected to open later this spring.
COURTS
• Orange County Dist. Atty. Todd Spitzer’s office announced Tuesday it was charging a former Fountain Valley police officer accused of felony grand theft for falsifying time cards and claiming to have been in traffic court testifying when records showed he had been absent. Stuart Robert Chase, 50, of Corona, faces a maximum sentence of three years.
• A 50-year-old Huntington Beach woman, Tae Mijayi Jones, was sentenced Thursday to 30 months in federal prison for embezzling about $2.8 million from a Garden Grove-based instant noodle maker. U.S. District Judge Fred W. Slaughter also ordered her to pay $2,894,441 in restitution, according to a City News Service report.
• In other CNS court reporting: Paul Randall, 66, of Orange, pleaded guilty Monday to a federal charge for his role in a $270-million healthcare fraud scheme, and San Clementer resident Fernando Ramirez, 30, pleaded not guilty to more than 80 counts for allegedly plowing his car into a crowd on a sidewalk near an East Hollywood nightclub, leaving more than 30 people injured last summer.
PUBLIC SAFETY
• Jerry Robert Mejias, 61, of Huntington Beach, was arrested at a park Sunday evening after he showed up for what turned out to be a rendezvous with a social media film crew posing as a male juvenile interested in sex. Even as the arrest was announced, the HBPD cautioned others not to engage in “social media vigilantism” as the film crew had.
• An unidentified man who appeared to be in his 30s was found dead in an alley near Pacific and Main streets in Stanton on Sunday, according to CNS. While O.C. sheriff’s deputies were searching for leads in the case they came upon an alleged gambling house at Cerritos and Flower avenues and arrested six people who were wanted on warrant, according to the report. It was not clear if there was any link between the man’s possible homicide and the gambling house.
• A solo-vehicle collision at around 10 p.m Friday in Garden Grove led to the death of one man, the driver of a Toyota Corolla that had just been reported traveling recklessly southbound on Euclid. When officers arrived at the scene they found the man and a woman, both of whom had been ejected from the Corolla.
SPORTS
• The Angels won their third consecutive game Monday night, with José Soriano pitching eight dominant innings in a 6-2 win over the Atlanta Braves, according to the AP report in The Times. The Angels got home runs from Zach Neto and Jo Adell.
• The lawyer defending imprisoned former Angels communications executive Eric Kay against drug charges involving the death of pitcher Tyler Skaggs said the team stopped paying his fees after a settlement was reached with Skaggs’ family in December. In a court filing in Texas, attorney David Gerger stated he would no longer represent Kay, The Times reported.
• Orange County Soccer Club hopes to draw more than 10,000 fans to a special one-off match when it hosts the Oakland Roots SC at Eddie West Field in Santa Ana on May 23.
LIFE & LEISURE
• Three Families Forward affordable housing communities in Orange County were the beneficiaries of a recent day of service during which 29 volunteers from Easy Street Capital turned out to do everything from painting fences to planting a community garden.
• Laguna College of Art and Design last week named a new interim president, Mark Saville, who joined the college’s administration as its vice president of advancement in 2024. Saville is stepping into the role previously held by Steven J. Brittan.
• A generous donation from the Quilter family has allowed the Laguna Art Museum to create a new curator role for the first time in its storied history.
CALENDAR
• Taste of Irvine takes place from 6 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. on Thursday, April 16, at the Park at Lakeshore, 18101 Von Karman Ave., Irvine. VIP tickets are priced at $95 and general admission tickets are priced at $65. For details visit eventbrite.com /e/taste-of-irvine-2026-tickets.
• Fullerton Arboretum at Cal State Fullerton is holding its Veggiepalooza Plant Sale from noon to 4 p.m. this Friday, from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Saturday and from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Sunday. The Arboretum is located at 1900 Associated Road, Fullerton.
• The Kidstock Family Music and Arts Festival, which got underway March 31, continues through April 11 at Pretend City Children’s Museum, 29 Hubble, Irvine. The schedule of events can be found here.
• The Newport Beach International Boat Show is coming up. It runs Thursday, April 16 through Sunday, April 19 at Lido Marina Village, 3432 Via Oporto, Newport Beach. For ticket information, visit the show’s website.
KEEP IN TOUCH
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