Mary A. Castillo There is a room...

Mary A. Castillo

There is a room in City Hall that waits for disaster. But if you

go looking for it, you may not figure out which one it is. There are

no signs warning unauthorized people away, nor are there retinal or

fingerprint scanning devices at the door.

But when widespread disaster strikes -- whether in the form of

floods, fires and possibly, after that Tuesday morning one year and

three months ago, terrorism -- that room can instantly be transformed

into a fully stocked emergency operations center with its own

communication and power systems.

“One thing about Laguna Beach, as a victim of natural disasters,

is that we’ve responded to situations over time that have prepared us

for anything that might come our way,” said Lt. Mike Hall of the

Laguna Beach Police Department.

But after high-profile terrorist warnings for the Golden Gate

bridge last year, news of tighter security procedures at the Times

Square New Year’s celebrations and the formation of the Department of

Homeland Security, there have been questions about Laguna’s own level

of preparation.

As one of the police department’s representatives on the Orange

County terrorism Working Group, which is in turn linked to the Joint

Terrorism Task Force with the FBI, Hall acknowledged that Laguna is

on the low side on the scale of possibilities.

“But we also know that it is possible to occur anywhere, anytime,”

Hall said.

Some might chuckle at the idea that Laguna could be in the

crosshairs of an Al Qaeda cell, but according to the Laguna Beach

Visitors Bureau, about 3 million visitors come to town on an annual

basis, making it one of the top cultural destinations in the county.

Also, with the San Onofre Nuclear Power Plant just 17 miles south

of town, the possibility of terrorism had been on the minds of Laguna

police and fire authorities even before Sept. 11.

“We are better prepared today than prior to Sept. 11,” Battalion

Chief Jeff Latendresse said. “We have gone through and trained

personnel in chemical agents, and the department purchased suits and

respirators that would protect us from certain types of chemicals.”

Personnel safety is one of the greater concerns when faced with

chemical attacks. All fire engines carry antidotes for nerve agents

in addition to the medical, rescue, hazardous materials and

firefighting equipment. Firefighters have also been trained in

triage, allowing them to delegate resources to the most severe areas.

“We’re of no benefit if we can’t perform our job,” Latendresse

said. “We have adequate protection to make sure we’re effective in

rescue attempts.”

But one of the most effective weapons against terrorism is

intelligence. The fire department and the police receive daily and

weekly status level reports from the California Anti-Terrorism

Information Center.

Also, representatives from all city departments sit on the

Emergency Planning Committee and review what still needs to be done

in terms of preparation and training and how the city will respond to

widespread disasters, Hall said.

One of the concerns local authorities share is the disaster

preparedness of the households in Laguna.

“If something happened, any agency would be overwhelmed,”

Latendresse said.

“You may have to take care of yourself and your neighbors until

police and fire can get to you if there’s a wide scale disaster,”

Hall added.

The police department’s Neighborhood Watch and Laguna Relief and

Resource Center’s Disaster Preparedness Committee are working to fill

in that gap.

The disaster preparedness committee, headed by resident Ed Sauls,

is developing a public education program that aims to get one-third

of Laguna households equipped with emergency provisions. The group’s

second aim is to designate Sept. 11 as Disaster Preparedness Day.

“This city has responded well without preparation for disasters

before,” Sauls said. “But it’s important they’re aware, so when it

happens, they’re not panicked.”

Hall encourages citizens to get to know each other, either through

Neighborhood Watch, the local neighborhood association or of their

own initiative.

“Find out who is elderly and who might need additional

assistance,” he said. “We can only do so much, but we also need

community members to do their part.”

* MARY A. CASTILLO covers education, public safety and City Hall.

She can be reached at [email protected].