Laguna Mayor, Council Recount Lessons Learned From Paradise Fire

LAGUNA BEACH, CA — While the Camp Fire raged, destroying the tiny town of Paradise, Calif., residents of Laguna Beach paid attention. Local officials visited the aftermath, learning from the firefighters and emergency responders on what went wrong, what went right and how that things at home might be improved.

Recently, Laguna Beach Mayor Bob Whalen, City Manager John Pietig, and Emergency Operations Coordinator Jordan Villwock spoke to a full house about those lessons learned from their January visit to fire-ravaged Paradise, and the fire ravaged area left behind by the Camp Fire.

At the March fire safety meeting, hosted by Village Laguna, Villwock shared his takeaways from the Paradise tragedy.

Villwock spoke on how residents can best prepare for a fast-moving fire and reduce fire risk and discussed the city's current emergency preparedness measures. He also described the City’s ongoing fuel modification efforts in and around Laguna Canyon.

"We have one of the best notification programs in the State to help notify you when something happens, but one of the things we learned in Paradise is we need to take a look at it and make it even better,” said City Manager John Pietig.

In the fall of 2019, the Laguna Beach City Council supported Mayor Bob Whalen’s recommendation to create the Wildfire Mitigation and Fire Safety Subcommittee to help assess the City’s current level of preparedness, fire risk and exposure to wildfires, resources, and infrastructure and review existing regulations to mitigate wildfires.

The committee will present its recommendations to the City Council this summer and develop an immediate action plan.

“It’s important we not just evaluate all the opportunities for protection - we’re going to have to prioritize them,” Pietig said. “Choices are going to have to be made to maintain the type of community we all want to live.