Getting ready for the worst

Imagine this: Two brush fires -- one in Buck Gulley, the other in

Newport Coast -- are tearing through Newport Beach. As the fires

threaten to converge, 30-foot flames threaten homes and endanger

thousands of lives.

Inside a crowded room in the Newport Beach police station, the

city’s emergency operations center bustles with officials from every

city department working together to maintain the safety of Newport

residents.

Wearing color-coded vests according to their department, officials

coordinate evacuations and shelters where displaced people will be

safe. Requests for help are called in to surrounding cities.

Firefighters battle the flames and police investigate leads that the

fires may have been intentionally set by an group demanding an end to

residential development.

The atmosphere is intense, and everyone is focused on finding a

solution -- but it’s only a drill.

The city of Newport Beach held the drill Thursday to practice its

response to just such a disaster and to evaluate what needs

improvement, Newport Police Sgt. Bill Hartford said.

After Hurricane Katrina, Newport-Mesa residents may be wondering

if their cities are prepared to handle a disaster similar in scale.

Officials from both cities said they are as ready as they can be.

“I think that Newport Beach is as prepared as any other

municipality,” said Newport Fire Chief Tim Riley.

Costa Mesa officials echoed that sentiment.

Newport Beach runs an annual emergency drill, with a different

simulated disaster each year. Costa Mesa holds training sessions

throughout the year, including an annual City Hall evacuation drill.

Last week, Costa Mesa officials conducted a simulated exercise to

provide shelter for residents in the event of an earthquake and

subsequent evacuation.

For the city of Newport Beach, this year’s simulated disaster was

a brush fire, but according to city officials, that’s only one of

several disasters that have the potential to cripple the city.

Earthquakes, fires and tsunamis seem to top the list of officials’

concerns.

Most recently, Newport Lifeguards had to evacuate the beach for a

tsunami warning in June. People were receptive to the warnings, said

Capt. Eric Bauer, of the Newport Beach Lifeguards.

In an oceanfront community, water-related disasters are legitimate

concerns, Bauer said.

The Newport Beach emergency operations center was last activated

in 1993 to provide support for Laguna Beach during the fires that

ravaged that city, said Newport Fire Chief Riley, who served as

incident commander at Thursday’s drill.

Depending on the situation, the head of any city department can

activate the city’s emergency operations center. From there, city

officials convene to decide the most appropriate action.

Once the emergency operations center has been opened, city

officials adhere to a preset command system, said Brenda Emrick, a

fire protection specialist with the Costa Mesa Fire Department.

“Our chain is the local operational area, and then the state, and

then the federal government,” Emrick said.

Should local agencies need outside assistance, Orange County law

enforcement agencies have the ability to talk to one another on the

radio if an emergency shuts down communications.

A large-scale disaster is likely to overwhelm the city’s resources

and require help from surrounding cities, officials said.

“We really rely heavily on each other to provide resources and

protection to our communities when one or more communities are

overwhelmed,” Riley said.

For Costa Mesa, the next thing on the disaster preparedness

horizon is donation management, Emrick said. She said she received

many calls, following Hurricane Katrina, from people wondering how to

help and how to get involved.

When a disaster occurs, everyone is quick to donate, but without

direction and a destination, donations can be lost, she said.

“You may have 100 pallets of water, but then you need trucks and

drivers that have insurance” to deliver the water, Emrick said.

Thursday’s drill in Newport went well, and all the participants

are getting more accustomed to working together, Riley said.

“I think that they’re understanding what their roles and

responsibilities are,” Riley said. “I think the team that was in

there is up to the challenge.”

City officials said they have done their part to prepare for a

disaster -- and now they’re asking residents to help out as well.

“The best answer to disaster preparedness is that individuals take

responsibility for themselves and that they’re self-prepared,”

Lifeguard Captain Bauer said.