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Laguna Beach officials order evacuations as 3-acre fire burns near Archbeach Heights
Summary
City officials said a brush fire that began about 2:15 a.m. burned about three acres, prompted an evacuation order for roughly four streets in Archbeach Heights, road closures on Coast Highway and deployment of air and mutual-aid resources; cause is suspected to be fireworks and remains under investigation.
City of Laguna Beach officials said a brush fire that began about 2:15 a.m. burned roughly three acres near the Archbeach Heights neighborhood and prompted an evacuation order for about four streets and an evacuation warning for the remainder of the neighborhood.
Mayor Alex Renogy, speaking at the city’s emergency operations center, said the fire is "suspected to be caused by fireworks," but that investigators have no additional information yet. He said the Susie Q Community Center is being used as a shelter for residents who evacuated.
The fire response involved local and regional air and ground resources. Fire Chief Nico King said Laguna Beach crews arrived within about five minutes and requested mutual aid; "we had up to five helicopters working the incident with one fixed-wing airplane," King said. He described the fire behavior as "very, very active" and asked residents to stay clear of the scene because many emergency personnel remain staged in town.
Chief of Police Jeff Calvert described traffic and evacuation measures: "We currently have the roadway shutdown going northbound, Coast Highway at Crown Valley, also southbound, at Coast Highway at Broadway. This is to ease the congestion on Coast Highway so we can evacuate those homes in the Archbeach Heights area." Calvert advised residents to follow Nixle and Alert OC messages for the latest evacuation orders and warnings.
Renogy credited recent fuel-modification work for limiting the fire’s spread near homes, saying the area adjacent to residences "was actually just approved and implemented through hand crews several months ago" and called it "a great example of fuel modification at work." He also thanked mutual-aid partners, naming the Orange County Fire Authority, the Orange County Sheriff's Department, the Irvine Police Department and the Newport Beach Police Department for assistance with firefighting and traffic control. Renogy said a CAL FIRE command plane was also involved.
City officials emphasized that the cause remains under investigation and urged residents to monitor official alerts and the city website for updates. "We will let you know as soon as we have facts that we can share," Renogy said, adding that residents should "please continue listening to what Nixle is saying, Alert OC and continue monitoring the city website."
