Mary A. Castillo There is a room...
Mary A. Castillo
There is a room in City Hall that waits for disaster. But if you
go looking for it, you may not figure out which one it is. There are
no signs warning unauthorized people away, nor are there retinal or
fingerprint scanning devices at the door.
But when widespread disaster strikes -- whether in the form of
floods, fires and possibly, after that Tuesday morning one year and
three months ago, terrorism -- that room can instantly be transformed
into a fully stocked emergency operations center with its own
communication and power systems.
“One thing about Laguna Beach, as a victim of natural disasters,
is that we’ve responded to situations over time that have prepared us
for anything that might come our way,” said Lt. Mike Hall of the
Laguna Beach Police Department.
But after high-profile terrorist warnings for the Golden Gate
bridge last year, news of tighter security procedures at the Times
Square New Year’s celebrations and the formation of the Department of
Homeland Security, there have been questions about Laguna’s own level
of preparation.
As one of the police department’s representatives on the Orange
County terrorism Working Group, which is in turn linked to the Joint
Terrorism Task Force with the FBI, Hall acknowledged that Laguna is
on the low side on the scale of possibilities.
“But we also know that it is possible to occur anywhere, anytime,”
Hall said.
Some might chuckle at the idea that Laguna could be in the
crosshairs of an Al Qaeda cell, but according to the Laguna Beach
Visitors Bureau, about 3 million visitors come to town on an annual
basis, making it one of the top cultural destinations in the county.
Also, with the San Onofre Nuclear Power Plant just 17 miles south
of town, the possibility of terrorism had been on the minds of Laguna
police and fire authorities even before Sept. 11.
“We are better prepared today than prior to Sept. 11,” Battalion
Chief Jeff Latendresse said. “We have gone through and trained
personnel in chemical agents, and the department purchased suits and
respirators that would protect us from certain types of chemicals.”
Personnel safety is one of the greater concerns when faced with
chemical attacks. All fire engines carry antidotes for nerve agents
in addition to the medical, rescue, hazardous materials and
firefighting equipment. Firefighters have also been trained in
triage, allowing them to delegate resources to the most severe areas.
“We’re of no benefit if we can’t perform our job,” Latendresse
said. “We have adequate protection to make sure we’re effective in
rescue attempts.”
But one of the most effective weapons against terrorism is
intelligence. The fire department and the police receive daily and
weekly status level reports from the California Anti-Terrorism
Information Center.
Also, representatives from all city departments sit on the
Emergency Planning Committee and review what still needs to be done
in terms of preparation and training and how the city will respond to
widespread disasters, Hall said.
One of the concerns local authorities share is the disaster
preparedness of the households in Laguna.
“If something happened, any agency would be overwhelmed,”
Latendresse said.
“You may have to take care of yourself and your neighbors until
police and fire can get to you if there’s a wide scale disaster,”
Hall added.
The police department’s Neighborhood Watch and Laguna Relief and
Resource Center’s Disaster Preparedness Committee are working to fill
in that gap.
The disaster preparedness committee, headed by resident Ed Sauls,
is developing a public education program that aims to get one-third
of Laguna households equipped with emergency provisions. The group’s
second aim is to designate Sept. 11 as Disaster Preparedness Day.
“This city has responded well without preparation for disasters
before,” Sauls said. “But it’s important they’re aware, so when it
happens, they’re not panicked.”
Hall encourages citizens to get to know each other, either through
Neighborhood Watch, the local neighborhood association or of their
own initiative.
“Find out who is elderly and who might need additional
assistance,” he said. “We can only do so much, but we also need
community members to do their part.”
* MARY A. CASTILLO covers education, public safety and City Hall.
She can be reached at mary.castillo@latimes.com.
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