Laguna Beach adds $2.5M in funding to its wildfire safety plan

Laguna Beach will spend nearly $2.5 million for soon-to-be-implemented wildfire mitigation projects and safety efforts following a presentation the City Council heard last month from staff.

An ad hoc committee was reinstated in January to update the wildfire mitigation and fire safety report that was first issued in 2019. In May, city staff reported to the council that 24 action items had been completed, while 16 others were in the process of being implemented.

The updated report includes a total of 76 action items in the areas of community preparedness, evacuations, fuel modification, infrastructure and public safety technology.

About $3 million has already gone toward projects, while $2,195,600 remains in the wildfire mitigation and fire safety fund.

Public safety officials advocated for a number of short-term projects, including the expansion of the emergency outdoor warning system with more sirens and speakers at an estimated cost of $200,000.

“We conducted a test of the outdoor warning system...and with that test, we conducted a gap analysis,” Sarah Limones, the city’s emergency operations coordinator, told the City Council. For the test, community volunteers and city staff were strategically placed throughout the city to report “if they could hear the alert, if they could understand the message, whether they were indoors, outdoors, in a vehicle.”

The information collected from the various sites will be mapped out, she said, “so we can get a really good idea of where we want to install these speakers and sirens.”

Expenditures approved for the police department include $424,000 to install a stand-alone dispatch console at the new emergency operation center at the Community and Recreation Center in South Laguna, as well as $375,000 for drone technology in first-responder efforts, and $350,000 to install a remote-controlled traffic signal priority system.

The drones, which have the ability to respond to scenes within 90 seconds of a call for service, would be pre-positioned throughout the city on rooftops, Police Chief Jeff Calvert explained. He said the city of Chula Vista has been a “trailblazer” in bringing the technology, to its emergency operations.

“It provides real-time situational awareness for the officers and first responders before they even get there, or dispatchers, as well,” Calvert said. “In this case, during red flag days, we could use the drones … to use thermal imaging to look for hot spots. We have residents and other CERT personnel that are in the wilderness park now, walking, looking for wildfires, where the drone can do this very, very easily and very, very quickly, scan an area for any potential wildfires.”

The council also approved the creation of a part-time position with a salary range of $60,000 to $70,000 for a community preparedness educator.

“When it comes to specifically the evacuation plans, I think that what stands out the most is people don’t know what zone they’re in,” Fire Chief Niko King said. “Just having a conversation of knowing a couple ways out [of their neighborhoods when evacuating] and how to be prepared for the next emergency, we could do so much better. What we’re looking at is getting a person on board and having them conduct those meetings.”

City staff also provided an update on the planned undergrounding of overhead utility lines along Coast Highway. The city will use $7.3 million in California Public Utility Commission credits to complete the project along the roadway, which is identified as a primary evacuation route.

“We were informed that [Southern California] Edison did receive the permit for the [Coast Highway] project,” Public Works Director Mark McAvoy said. “It had been stuck at Caltrans for a very, very long time. We were informed that the permit was issued. There was a lot of effort on our part to help bridge the gap there, and we’re excited that the permit was issued.

“Next, they have to bid and execute a contract, and so we won’t see construction tomorrow, but the train’s left the station, it seems, so we’re excited about that.”