City adds to emergency list

Fire department officials have expanded the city’s emergency manual

to cover six new hazards.

Joining fires, earthquakes, floods and tsunamis are terrorism;

high winds; epidemics such as SARS; power outages; agriculture or

vector hazards, which include mad cow disease and the West Nile

virus; and work and school-based violence.

“We probably went 20 years, and we didn’t add an issue, but now we

have so many issues coming up so fast,” said Glorria Morrison, the

city’s emergency services coordinator.

The plan is separated into two sections-- the basic plan and the

operations plan.

The new plan, approved by the City Council on Tuesday, will soon

be distributed throughout the city. Copies of the 70-page manual will

go to the Police Department, the Fire Department, the Public Works

Department, the Huntington Beach Hospital and Medical Center, the

school districts, the Orange County Sanitation District and the

governor’s office of emergency services.

The plan maps out how to prepare for, respond to and recover from

an emergency. It includes everything from setting up an emergency

operations center and activating a chain of command to assisting

disabled people and answering legal questions.

It also includes a list of veterinarians who can care for animals

and mortuaries that can handle casualties.

“There’s a lot of detail,” Morrison said. “It has all of the

answers to questions that you might ask in an emergency.”

As part of the process of drafting the new plan, Huntington Beach

met and shared ideas with 23 other Orange County cities.

“Huntington Beach’s plan was used as the model for Orange County,”

Morrison said. “We met twice a month, and we shared plans and we

looked at different models -- state plans and Los Angeles plans.”

City officials also gathered input from all of the city’s

department heads.

Nature center hosts native plant sale

A collection of native plants and butterflies will be displayed at

the Shipley Nature Center on March 6.

California native plants, such as coffee berries, manzanitas and

flowering maples, will be sold from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Liz Cooper and

Sandra Huwe, experts on Orange County butterflies, will also display

live eggs and caterpillars and answer questions about butterflies and

the plants that attract them.

“We do offer the hummingbird and the butterfly plants,” Friends

board member Nancy Harris said. “A lot of people like to plant so

that they can attract certain wildlife to their yards.”

About 160 plants will be sold at the event. Volunteers will be on

hand to provide information on care of the plants. For best results,

Harris cautions that the plants be planted by the end of March.

The sale is set to coincide with the Shipley Nature Center’s

monthly restoration day, which takes place on the first Saturday of

every month from 9 a.m. to noon.

The Friends of the Shipley Nature Center, which is hosting the

event, is a nonprofit organization that took over the nature center

when the city cut funding in October 2002 and locked the gates.

A crew of young men and women from the Orange County Conservation

Corps works four days a week pulling invasive plants, planting native

vegetation and redesigning the interpretive building. On the third

Sunday of every month, the center is open to the public for nature

walks and tours.

The center provides a habitat for 23 endangered species, including

western pond turtles and Southwestern willow flycatchers.

The Shipley Nature Center is in Huntington Beach Central Park. For

more information, contact the friends at (714) 842-4772, e-mail

shipleynature@yahoo.com or log on to https://www.fsnc.org.

Water agency educates children

Surf City’s main water agency will educate county children about

water at a festival this spring.

The Orange County Water District will hold the nation’s largest

water education festival for children on May 11 and 12 in Irvine.

More than 7,000 students, parents and teachers are expected to

attend the festival, which is designed to teach third- and

fourth-graders about the interdependence of water, soil, plants,

trees, animals and humans.

The event drew 7,000 participants last year.

The district is seeking help from volunteers to work booths and

guide children through activities.

To volunteer, contact Julie Chestnut at (714) 257-1219. To sponsor the event, donate supplies or present an activity, contact Rebecca

Long at (714) 378-3362.

The Taste of Huntington Beach

A sampling of Surf City’s finest chefs will be cooking up a storm

on March 28 for the fourth annual Taste of Huntington Beach.

The event, which will take place at the Hyatt Huntington Beach

Resort and Spa, will serve samples of dishes from 50 of the area’s

restaurants and 30 nationally recognized wineries and breweries. The

types of food will include Chinese, Mexican, Italian and Hawaiian,

plus there will be exotic desserts.

Proceeds will be donated to the Children’s Library of the

Huntington Beach Central Library. Last year’s event raised $32,000.

The event will also include a silent auction, a raffle and live

entertainment.

Tickets are $40 per person if bought in advance and $50 at the

door. Tickets can be purchased at the Huntington Beach Central

Library, at 7111 Talbert Ave.; at the Huntington Beach Conference and

Visitors Bureau, at 301 Main St.; at Duke’s at the pier; and at the

Longboard Restaurant and Pub, at 217 Main St.

For more information, call (714) 969-3492 or log on to

www.hbrestaurants.com.