Environment |

Laguna Beach’s natural habitats are also a huge fire risk, the city has plans to make them safer

Southern maritime chaparral, large swaths of coastal sage and tall grasses create a beautiful mosaic, that in many areas creeps dangerously close to homes overlooking Hobo and Aliso canyons along an interior ridgeline in Laguna Beach.

Though the rugged, undisturbed cliffs and canyons are what many residents in the seaside town adore, the terrain and vegetation are also what put Laguna Beach at extreme fire risk – Cal Fire has designated the community and its surrounding 16,000 acres of open space as a “very high fire hazard severity zone.”

So getting the California Coastal Commission’s recent approval of a less invasive, but still effective plan for pruning the two canyons of some of that natural fire fuel is key, local officials said.

The Laguna Beach Fire Department, its wildfire defense consultant and the Laguna Canyon Foundation, which dedicates itself to preserving the community’s natural areas, collaborated to develop the plan to remove 50% of brush, bushes and grasses in an environmentally friendly way and create a 100-foot perimeter between the canyons and the homes.

“This is the most sensibly designed fuel modification plan I’ve ever seen in the state,” said Jack Ainsworth, executive director of the Coastal Commission.

“We’ve been working on this for years,” he said about the back-and-forth over how to protect nature and prevent fires. “I think we’ve landed on a mitigation ratio that is completely fair. It should be used as a model across the state.”

The two canyons include native vegetation that support birds such as the coastal California gnatcatcher and Bell’s vireo and plants such as the big-leaved crownbeard, all three of which are state and federally-listed threatened species.

While protecting those habitats, the plan will still create much-needed defensible space so firefighters can do their jobs and residents have a better chance to escape in a firestorm, officials said.

City officials have spent about a decade getting this permanent permit from the Coastal Commission for brush clearing in the canyons. Starting in 2015, fire officials secured emergency permits to remove some of the brush, and getting those permits had been difficult, officials said.

In 2019, the Laguna Beach City Council launched an analysis of the community’s fire risks and earmarked $21 million to start tackling an action plan to ensure the city, its 23,000 residents and nearly 7 million annual visitors are as safe as possible. The fire department was tasked with identifying more areas where fuel modification could be done.

“The goal is to get a fire break all around our city,” Fire Chief Mike Garcia said during a recent tour of the canyons area with Mayor Sue Kempf. “And, we’re close to getting that.”

In Aliso and Hobo canyons, there are about 12 acres over two zones that will be thinned out: east of Barracuda Way and Loretta Drive and north of Marilyn Drive and Driftwood Drive. Hand crews and goats will clear the vegetation.

First, all non-native vegetation and dead or dying plants will be removed. Trimming of woody native species will occur only if the 50% thinning threshold hasn’t already been achieved. Shrubs taller than six feet will be pruned to decrease “fuel ladders,” where flames can leap from plant to plant.

Hand crews using chainsaws will do most of the work, and only about an acre will be grazed by goats.

A Laguna Canyon Foundation biologist will visit each work area 48 hours ahead of vegetation clearing to make sure there are no raptor or other birds’ nests. They will also look for sensitive plant species such as the big-leaved crowned beard, a woody shrub with bright yellow flowers, to be avoided. The biologist will be present during the plant removal and also keep an eye on possible erosion issues, officials said.

The areas being treated will be staked and will include animal migration-friendly fencing.

Getting this vegetation cleared could reduce flame heights by 75% and limit a fire’s speed, Garcia said.

“If we came here on a high wind (red flag) day with unmodified fuel, we’d have to give up on certain homes because we couldn’t defend them,” Garcia said. “Doing this allows helicopters, planes and firefighters to have a more significant effect. We need to do what we can to provide the greatest level of protection.”

Still, the additional focus on the environment comes with a greater price tag. While the typical fuel modification project in the state costs between $3,500 and $5,000 an acre, efforts to reduce fuel in Laguna Beach are costing about $32,000 an acre. At present, about 350 acres in the city are under fuel modification management.

During the Coastal Commission meeting, Councilman George Weiss, speaking as a resident, not as a city representative, cautioned the commissioners to keep the additional costs in mind when looking at fuel modification plans elsewhere.

“This needs to be done very softly with a gentle touch,” he said. “Laguna Beach is spending a lot of money on this.”

February’s Emerald fire, fueled by high winds, quickly burned through 145 acres, getting very near homes in North Laguna.  The extensive fuel modification that’s done each year behind Emerald Bay and Irvine Cove made a significant difference, Garcia said.

And the fire has certainly been a reminder to the community about the threat of fire in its natural areas, Kempf said. With Councilman Bob Whalen, she was part of a sub-committee that helped put together the 2019 fire mitigation report.

“Since I’ve been on council, the most feedback I’ve gotten is about the fire in Emerald Bay,” she said. “There’s very much a heightened awareness, it really woke people up in terms of vulnerability.”

Garcia, 57, who came to Laguna Beach after a 28-year career in Long Beach recently announced he will retire as the fire chief on July 1. He said he still recalls flying over the city when he took the position in April 2018 to get an understanding of what was needed to make a fire-prone community safer.

Education on the importance of creating a defensible space is one of the things he’s focused on.

He said while he understands the community’s desire to protect the town’s unique appearance, he explained why some vegetation presented greater hazards and how not removing it could cause the community to lose exactly the look that makes Laguna Beach so special.

Two years after Garcia took his position, he asked residents to take personal responsibility to protect their community by clearing vegetation away from their homes and creating more defensible space. While there is no city law requiring all property owners clear space, there is now a state one if their home is going up for sale.

“It is also something insurance companies desire and in some cases demand to see in a community with fire risk such as Laguna Beach,” he said.

Looking back Garcia credited the city manager and council for their support in gearing up Laguna Beach’s efforts to prevent the wildfire destruction that’s been seen in the past.

“It’s nice being a fire chief in a town where you don’t have to guess,” he said. “It’s crystal clear on what needs to be done here.”