A 4.6 acre brush fire, which local police say was started by illegal fireworks, swept through the hills of Laguna Beach on Monday afternoon, prompting four street evacuations, multiple emergency alerts, and a quick response from firefighting teams across Southern California.
Dubbed “Rancho Fire,” the blaze burned 4.6 acres before firefighters stopped its progress a few hours after it started. The incident resulted in no injuries or structural damage; however, it served as a stark reminder to fire-wary Lagunans of past wildfires, such as the 1993 Fire, which caused much more damage.
The fire was first reported at 2:06 p.m. on Monday, July 7, near Morningside Drive and Rancho Laguna Road. At the Laguna Beach City Council meeting the following evening, Bluebird Canyon resident Lauren Ezzell told councilmembers she reported the fire, allegedly started by a 13-year-old boy, and it’s not the first time an incident like this has happened in that neighborhood.
“I personally witnessed the fire started by a kid on the e-bike, and he illegally lit it at the pump track in Bluebird Canyon,” Ezzell said. “I was the one resident who called it in immediately, and thanks to the vigilance of residents and our heroic rapid response of our city, our police, our firefighters and our first responders, this catastrophe was averted…This was not an isolated event. Unfortunately, this has been happening for weeks. Kids come at night to the pump track and they light fireworks.”
After Ezzell reported the fire, Laguna Beach Fire Department (LBFD) responded to the scene, quickly supplemented by mutual aid from Cal Fire, Orange County Fire Authority and other regional fire and police departments. Five helicopters and a fixed-wing air tanker were dispatched to combat the flames from the air.
“It couldn’t have gone smoother,” said Fire Chief Niko King at Tuesday night’s City Council meeting. “The mutual aid system worked exactly as it should have.”
King credited the city’s two helicopter refill stations, known as HeloPods, for enabling rapid water drops, with helicopters refilling in as little as 90 seconds. The system was installed as part of the city’s broader Wildfire Mitigation and Safety Plan, adopted in 2019 following the devastating California wildfires…