Truly from the heart

Barbara Diamond

Twenty-two dead. 3,500 homes destroyed. 750,000 acres burned to a

crisp.

Those are the numbers from the October 2003 wildfires, but numbers

don’t tell the whole story.

“We’ve been there; we know,” South County Bank Vice President Anne

Morris said. “Who better than us?”

A coalition of Chamber of Commerce members, the Laguna Relief and

Resource Center, the Laguna Beach Woman’s Club and anyone else who

volunteered is organizing assistance to those whose homes and lives

were ravaged in the fires that charred Southern California.

“We are getting a lot of community support,” said Bonnie

Macmillan, chair of the chamber fire relief committee.

Cuddles, clothing, counseling and cash. They will all be needed,

but right now, cash has the priority, said Macmillan and Shannon Huhn

of the resource center. Both groups have established bank accounts to

accept donations, which can be earmarked for specific areas. Checks

should be tagged “Fire Relief.”

Even counseling services are in the second tier of needs, said

Laguna Beach clinical psychologist Marion Jacobs, a founder in the

wake of the Laguna Fire of PsychSupport.

“People struggling with insurance, buying clothing and calming

their children do not visit therapists,” Jacobs said. “We learned the

best way to deliver psychological services is through the media and

by direct handouts.”

Handouts reassure disaster victims that distressing symptoms are

to be expected, advise them how to cope with their own symptoms and

what to do to calm their children’s fears.

The PsychSupport group of 50 volunteers is collaborating with the

resource center, which has already swung into action.

The city was one of the first to take action. Seventeen of our

firefighters helped battle the fires.

“It was our turn to contribute,” Fire Chief Ken McLeod said.

Even before the fires were under control, City Manager Ken Frank

had organized an outreach group familiar with the Laguna fire and its

aftermath.

Frank, Ed Sauls, Greater Laguna Coast Fire Relief and local Red

Flag Patrol founder David Horne, Assistant City Manager John Pietig,

former Public Works Department Director Terry Brandt, and city

Project Manager Wade Brown met a week ago with San Bernardino city

and county officials to pass on what they had learned from Laguna’s

firestorm.

Horne distributed copies of “Laguna Beach: Response to Challenge,”

a community report edited by Linda A. Wilson, now Frost. The booklet

distills what Laguna city and emergency service officials, as well as

residents, volunteers and crisis counselors, learned about coping

with the immediate and long-term effects of the arson fire that

destroyed or severely damaged 441 homes and burned 16,682 acres.

“Excerpts from the booklet are being put onto Web site,

https://www.firesafecouncil.org,” Horne said. “They are putting up

stuff daily, like success stories and the things people need to think

about immediately. What worked best for us was organizing around

insurance companies.”

Sauls, who is trying to get more copies of the booklet printed;

Marcia Bode, director of Fire Relief Coalition -- no the resource

center -- after the 1993 fire; and Shannon Huhn also visited Scripts

Ranch.

Huhn lost her home in the 1993 fire. A day shy of 10 years later,

her sister’s home burned, one of the more than 340 homes destroyed in

the Scripts Ranch community.

“Scripts Ranch is very similar to Laguna Beach in size and sense

of community,” Huhn said. “It has a population of 25,000; 10,000

homes; two elementary schools, one middle school and one high school;

and high visibility.

“Any one curious about how the community is dealing with the fire

can go to Web site https://www.scriptsranch.org and click on the

important info link, which tells how they are reaching out to

communities like Julian with fewer resources.”

“The strongest memory I have of the 1993 fire is all the good

things, the outpouring of support and human spirit,” Huhn said.

“These were gifts of the heart.”

PsychSupport is offering its experience and printed materials to

help the Scripts Ranch disaster victims.

Chamber relief committee chair Macmillan is researching where help

is most needed and has been in contact with the city of Julian.

Committee member Ron Hyrchuk is researching what is needed. Suzanne

Lilly will represent the chamber. Chamber Treasurer Kathy Conway will

oversee the donations account.

“It will probably be five to seven days before we hear from our

contacts in Julian with a specific list of needs,” Macmillan said.

The woman’s club has postponed its Nov. 15 antiques show and sale

and will accept donations of goods from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. that day.

“As much as we were looking forward to the antiques show, this

takes precedence,” club President Veronica Nice said. “The club is

honored to donate the use of our facility for this humanitarian

community action.”

Michael and Cheryl Carr, operators of Laguna Beach Self-Storage in

Laguna Canyon, have agreed to donate space to store the donations

when goods are collected for the fire victims. Kubisak’s Antique

Center has earmarked furniture to be donated, a resource center

spokeswoman said.

“Donations came to us in 1993 from all over the state,” said

Morris, a member of the chamber committee. “Now, it’s our chance to

give back.”

Sandy Thornton will be contacting all the groups named in the

chamber’s Community Directory and encouraging them to organize small

donation drives, which the chamber will coordinate.

“It warms my heart to see how giving these folks are and how

action-oriented they are,” resource center chair Sauls said.

For a time in the 1990s, Laguna was the poster child of disasters

with fire, floods and mudslides coming in quick succession.

Certainly, the lessons we learned about fire-proofing our community

can be passed on. That’s in the future. Right now, local folks figure

that the least that can be done is to make sure people have enough

cash to buy the necessities.

Nor should any child have to sleep without a toy to cuddle,

especially in a makeshift bed at a shelter.

A Laguna Beach Fire Department program has proved the success of

giving kids in crisis a soft, comforting stuffed toy.

“This would be a great opportunity for a kids to kids program,”

Horne said. “That would make it really special.”

The Red Cross does much to help disaster victims. But living

through it instills a deeper understanding of the pain of loss, which

is only beginning to sink in for the hundreds who are now homeless

and which will be followed by the crushing weight of trying to

rebuild lives, not to mention homes.

“We can identify,” said Horne, whose home was destroyed Oct. 27,

1993. “The main message is: It’s going to be overwhelming, but it’s

doable. Take it a little bit at a time.

“It’s not fun, but believe or not, I think people come out of it

stronger,” he said. “They shouldn’t get discouraged. Just keep

looking a the main goal of moving back into a rebuilt home.”

For more information on how to help, call resource center outreach

director Debbie Cortez at (949) 497-7121 or chamber contact Lilly at

(949) 494-1018, ext. 1.