A truckload of help

Marisa O’Neil

When people in nearby cities need help, the Costa Mesa Fire

Department can send 46,000 pounds of truck and 40,000 watts of

electricity to the rescue.

Costa Mesa’s massive Urban Search and Rescue truck -- one of four

in the county -- didn’t have to respond to this month’s Laguna Beach

landslides. But with salvage efforts and geological surveys ongoing

in the city, Costa Mesa firefighters wanted to let their Laguna Beach

counterparts know they’re here for them and only minutes up the road.

So, the truck and its specially trained crew made a series of

trips, which wrapped up Tuesday, to meet with firefighters in Laguna

Beach. They went over confined-space search-and-rescue techniques and

showed off some of the tools and specialized gear that could help in

the event of another slide or other emergency.

“It’s like a big, old Home Depot on wheels,” Costa Mesa Fire Capt.

Ron Cloe said of the truck.

The truck, which was custom built by a company that makes

beverage-delivery trucks, responds to every fire and rescue in the

city, he said. It also goes to calls in neighboring cities.

Crews from the Orange County Fire Authority aided Laguna Beach

firefighters immediately following the June 1 slide that destroyed as

many as 20 homes in Bluebird Canyon. No one was seriously injured in

the slide.

If it had been worse and people were trapped in the rubble, the

Costa Mesa rig would have provided much-needed help, Laguna Beach

Engineer Dennis Marsh said.

“A lot of this stuff, we would have used right away to stabilize

houses and get people out of there,” Marsh said as he looked at the

truck.

Right now, engineers are testing the fallen hillside from cages

lowered into 100-foot holes drilled into the slide area, Cloe said.

That could easily turn into a rescue situation if any of those

tunnels caved in, he said.

The Costa Mesa rescue unit would provide a microphone and speaker

that could be lowered in to communicate with anyone trapped inside,

Cloe told the firefighters. A long hose connected to a compressor

could provide air.

A tiny camera on a 6-foot boom could let them peer into small

spaces. Air bags could inflate and lift up to 72 tons of debris,

allowing firefighters to pull somebody out.

And a massive, 40,000-watt generator could provide power to

cutting tools and halogen lights to illuminate a large search area,

Cloe said.

Meeting the firefighters who might help them out and seeing the

equipment available to them will help things go smoother in an

emergency, Marsh said.

“If it’s 1 a.m., and somebody rolls up with a new piece of

equipment, it’s kind of scary,” Marsh said.

* MARISA O’NEIL covers public safety . She may be reached at

(714) 966-4618 or by e-mail at [email protected].