Laguna officials are ready for worst

The 500-page “Basic Emergency Plan” is the city’s bible in disasters.

“Disaster preparedness guidelines are for the residents, but the

emergency plan is for the staff,” City Manager Ken Frank said.

The plan spells out what is expected of each city department in

the event of a man-made or natural disaster, right down to who will

handle public information and the press.

Police Capt. Danell Adams was the face and voice of emergency

operations for displaced families and the media after the June 1

landslide.

“She used just the right tone to keep people calm and make them

feel secure and in safe hands,” Mayor Elizabeth Pearson-Schneider

said. “It is critical in a disaster to keep cool heads. She was the

professional face of the disaster and my role model.”

For many, Pearson-Schneider became the hero of the landslide,

visible and vocal in support of the shaken and often distraught

property owners.

Nominally, the mayor and the City Council head the chain of

command in a disaster. Next in line is the city manager, who is

designated as emergency services director.

Practically speaking, however, the city’s police and fire chiefs

are more likely to be the field leaders, according to Adams, who

serves as commander of the emergency operations center, which is

mobilized as needed.

“In a huge natural disaster, the fire department will head the

command center, and in a large criminal incident -- such as a hostage

situation -- the police will head the command center,” Adams said.

The series of disasters in the 1990s -- fire, floods, mudslides --

gave the city emergency personnel on-the-job-training.

“The fact that we lost no lives in the 1993 fire and the landslide

this year is amazing,” Frank said.

But Police Chief James Spreine is haunted by the two lives lost in

the 1998 Laguna Canyon mudslides.

The first goal of emergency personnel is to save lives, according

to Fire Chief Mike Macey.

“We work together with the police department as a team in a

disaster,” Macey said.

The Fire Department holds monthly training sessions and recently

hosted seven neighborhood educational meetings to prepare residents

for wildfires.

Resident participation in the meetings was minimal. The department

sent out 3,000 notices, but only four or five people attended each of

the meetings, Frank told the City Council Tuesday.

This month safety drills are being held at Laguna Beach schools to

prepare students for safe evacuation in a disaster.

Training and updating information is constant, Adams said.

Police Officer Ted Falencki spent this week training for disasters

with the Orange County Sheriff’s Department.

A list is kept in the city’s emergency dispatch office of seniors

and handicapped residents who might need special consideration in a

disaster.

Besides city departments, other organizations play an important

role in emergencies. Local ham radio operators regularly train to

assist in emergency communications during disasters. The Red Cross is

an essential component of any emergency response team.

Residents must be the partners with the city in an emergency,

especially one that cuts the city off from outside assistance, an

obvious possibility with only three ways in or out of town -- Coast

Highway (south or north) and Laguna Canyon Road.

“The Fire Department has four stations in Laguna Beach with 12

firefighters on duty every day,” Macey said. “The city has mutual-aid

agreements with other law enforcement and firefighting agencies, but

the local departments and the residents must be prepared to fend for

themselves in a disaster.”