They called it the “Emerald Fire,” as if accentuating the flickering green hues of the flames.
Or was it the emerald green waves that cascaded in the background of Emerald Bay while firefighters worked to save homes.
Of course, there was no romance, nuance or quaint naming in the Emerald Fire. It was named out of convenience for the location.
In hindsight, it should have been named the “Southern California Edison 33°33’29.1″N 117°48’20.4″W Fire.” That’s where the fire started, courtesy of SCE power lines.
In yet another example of our stubborn resistance to undergrounding, the Orange County Fire Authority (OCFA) recently said yes, the 154-acre fire started because of power lines.
And the City of Laguna Beach characteristically pursed its lips and said, yes, it’s a problem.
“Through the Public Utilities Commission and the California Legislature, we’ve been pushing for mandates that require the utilities to underground utilities in Very High Fire Hazard Severity Zones, which includes most of the City of Laguna Beach,” said Laguna Beach Mayor Pro Tem Bob Whalen in a press release. “This news that above ground power lines have caused another California wildfire in our own backyard is a wake-up call for all of us that the utilities need to underground now – no matter the cost. You can’t put a dollar amount on any life lost to wildfire.”
With all due respect to Whalen and his yeoman’s pro-undergrounding efforts, this was hardly a “wake-up call.”
We’ve been woke. The alarms have never stopped sounding. Remember that the city’s sage Arnold Hano first suggested undergrounding power lines in 1961.
So why, after more than 60 years, are we still dealing with power lines?
In a word, money.
No one wants to pay for it. The best we can muster is some well-heeled neighborhood districts where a handful of people pay for it out of their own pocket.
Try to do that throughout Laguna – plus the adjacent unincorporated areas – and the costs skyrocket.
The city has plans, of course, to underground certain areas. Most are in neighborhoods and along Coast Highway where the goal is more about improving visibility and perhaps some road safety.
The real fire threat is in Laguna Canyon and the hillside wilderness areas.
The city tried to pass Measure P in 2018 that would have imposed a 1% sales tax and put the canyon wires underground once and for all. But it failed, inexplicably.
Voters apparently saw “tax” on the ballot and said no.
Now they have fires instead.
There’s been enough of them now that most of the hillsides have that perpetual neutered look to them.
Sure, vegetation grows back after a fire, but the hillsides are never the same. There’s always something lost: a solitary oak on the edge of a hill, a Monarch-loving patch of milkweed, a restoration area for the Western Spadefoot Toad.
Maybe these are small things compared to multimillion-dollar homes. Maybe they are not even mentioned if someone loses their life.
Is that when action will be taken? A life?
No, we’ve proven that dozens of lives can be taken – in all types of tragedies – and we will still do nothing.
We do nothing but enjoy our emerald hues – while we can.
