Citizens corps in the wings

Deepa Bharath

A Citizens Corps Council, designed to keep the community informed

about the city’s disaster preparedness programs, is a step away from

fruition.

City officials unveiled the concept Thursday evening during a town

hall meeting at the Neighborhood Community Center in Lions Park. The

council is set up as a group of community leaders who officials

believe will help distribute information about the city’s programs

that aim to prepare residents for emergency situations.

The original idea came from Fire Chief Jim Ellis, who says he has

been working on it since Sept. 11. The city had sent out letters to

about 50 community members including members of homeowners

associations, churches, schools and other community organizations

such as Girls Inc. and Boy Scouts.

“I think we had 40 people show up on Thursday, which I thought was

a pretty good response,” Ellis said.

He added that there was a lively question and answer session that

proved to be educational for officials as well.

“The specific questions people were asking me made me realize that

this thing is not set in stone,” Ellis said. “It’s a living,

breathing program that will keep evolving with time.”

Costa Mesa will be only the fourth in the county to do so, behind

Placentia, Laguna Niguel and the Orange County Sheriff’s Department,

Ellis said. The city already has in place programs such as in

Neighborhood Watch, the Citizens Emergency Response Training Team and

Volunteers in Policing.

Ellis has set up a Medical Corps Database so local hospitals will

be able to network and help in the time of a disaster.

The job of this citizens corps will be to oversee all of these

components, attend meetings and take the information back to their

respective communities. On Thursday, most of those invited to

participate in the corps signed up to be part of it, Ellis said.

Among them was Cindy Brenneman, president of the Mesa Verde

Community Inc. Brenneman said she believed the people who she saw

sign up Thursday night “can definitely carry the message and be part

of the planning stage.”

“It’s only going to get better and better,” she said.

Brenneman said she is planning to initiate Neighborhood Watch

groups in the Mesa Verde community.

Diane Hill, a longtime Killybrook resident and avid proponent of

emergency preparedness, said “this is a high priority issue.”

“It’s important that every citizen in Costa Mesa has an

understanding of what to do in an emergency situation so they’re not

terrified when it happens,” she said.

“We definitely need to invest a little bit of time to make sure

our families and our neighbors can survive any such situation.”

* DEEPA BHARATH covers public safety and courts. She may be

reached at (949) 574-4226 or by e-mail at deepa.bharath@latimes.com.