Disaster help on the way

Barbara Diamond

More than 100 Bluebird Canyon residents and friends clustered

together at 3 p.m. Wednesday at the Red Cross center set up at Laguna

Beach High School.

They were there to hear what services and counsel Red Cross

officials had to offer, to hear advice from Dale Ghere, who many

credit with the expeditious restoration of the Bluebird Canyon homes

and hillside that were destroyed in 1978, and an update from Police

Capt. Danell Adams.

“What made the ’78 landslide restoration successful was the

people,” Ghere said. “You have to organize. If you don’t, nothing

will happen.

“Thinking about law suits right now is probably not the best way

to go.”

Meanwhile, Adams told the crowd, “I am sorry to see you here. We

were hoping to get people back in the cold [unaffected] zone, but the

fire department doesn’t think it is safe. I was just there; it is

tenuous at best.”

Residents will not be allowed back into the affected area until

officials decide how much dirt moved, where it moved and where it

might move.

In 1978, that took about a week. But the community rallied to the

aid of the residents, according to Ghere.

“I went on television [in 1978] to ask for help in evacuating

belongings,” Ghere said. “In 45 minutes I had to go back on and ask

for no more help.”

From his own experience -- in fact Adams had evacuated him in ’78

-- Ghere said Wednesday’s meeting was not the time to work on

long-term plans.

“You guys have no idea what you are facing,” he said. “I worked

18-to-20-hour days for three years. You need all the support you can

get. We need to watch out for one another and listen to each other.”

, Ghere advised animal owners to notify the Animal Services team

at the command post about how to be reached. “Right now, the first

concern is transportation up the hill to take care of pets,” Ghere

said. He also said that residents who are not back in their homes by

Thursday should clean out their freezers and refrigerators and dump

the contents in a trash container during their limited time in the

home.

“Work with the police,” he said. “You may have to walk back in.”

Red Cross representative Dave Redfearn told the gathered residents

that clothing and food was available.

“We’re here to feed you tonight,” Redfearn said. “And the

community is responding.”

When Redfearn asked if anyone needed a place to sleep, not a

single hand was raised. Friends, neighbors and total strangers had

opened their homes. Hotels were also offering a free night and

discounted rates through the Chamber of Commerce and Visitor’s &

Conference Bureau.

Jon Madison of Madison Square and Garden Cafe and Mark Jacobi of

Sundried Tomato are organizing local restaurants to provide meals for

the displaced.

Donations are being accepted by the Laguna Beach Relief and

Resource Coalition and by South Coast Bank.

“Previous experience has shown that this community draws on one

another for support,” Adams said Thursday. “I have never had a

concern about that. People here chip in.

“The proof is that not one evacuated person spent Wednesday night

in the Red Cross Shelter and we are talking about more than 800

evacuees.”

For more information about Red Cross services, (714) 481-5300.

For housing, call the chamber at (949) 494-1018 or the bureau at

(949) 376-0511. For evacuation status, call (714) 628-7085.

The Laguna Beach Unified School District is providing counseling

to children frightened by the destruction or threatened destruction

of their homes, Adams said.