FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
LAGUNA BEACH HIGH SCHOOL
TED OON
FRESHMEN, LAGUNA BEACH HIGH SCHOOL

February 27, 2026

2026 LBHS FLOW Fire Safety Campaign Kickoff

LAGUNA BEACH, Calif. - As wildfires become more intense and last longer, Laguna Beach is reintroducing its annual wildfire campaign to reduce wildfire risk and mitigate property damage.

On February 25, 2026, the Laguna Beach Fire Department, the Laguna Beach County Water District, the Greater Laguna Coast Fire Safe Council (GLCFSC), and Laguna Beach High School’s FLOW Freshmen will officially launch the 2026 FLOW Fire Safety Campaign, focusing on creating defensible space and mitigating fire damage to residential property. 

The year’s campaign also introduces a reusable fire-safety tote bag with educational resources and materials, which will be handed out to Laguna Beach residents to help them better understand how they can mitigate fire damage on their residential properties.

The campaign is organized annually by the Greater Laguna Coast Fire Safe Council (GLCFSC), which was founded after the 1993 Laguna Beach Fire that destroyed more than 300 homes and caused more than $500 million in property damage that year, which is approximately $1 billion today. The program continues with a single goal: educating residents about wildfire safety and reducing fire hazards near their homes.

According to the California Fire Safe Council (CFSC)’s “Defensible Space” guidelines and CAL FIRE’s “Defensible Space” recommendations, homeowners can reduce wildfire hazards by managing the area surrounding their homes as well as reinforcing structures with noncombustible materials. Both methods reduce the risk of their homes getting engulfed in flames.

One method is to reinforce the house to prevent it from burning easily, unlike back in 1993, when houses weren’t as fire-resistant as they are now. The method prioritizes blocking all possible gaps through which embers could pass. This way, airborne embers will have a harder time setting aflame of materials near the house. Non-combustible materials used to mitigate fire damage on residential property include brick, concrete, stucco, and double-pane windows to prevent embers from reaching the interior.

Another method of reducing wildfire risk is to clear the area around the house of combustible materials to a certain extent. Every residential property has a fire inspection zone consisting of three zones; the lower the number, the closer the zone is to the residential property. For Zone 0, the innermost zone, it is recommended to clear as much combustible debris within 5 feet of the residential property as possible. For the latter zones, flammable debris must be cleared to some extent, taking into account both horizontal and vertical space requirements, which vary by terrain. 

The two spacing requirements reduce the likelihood of flames reaching Zone 0, where combustible materials are individually spaced to prevent them from finding a path towards the residential property. Horizontal spacing is the minimum distance between individual combustible materials to reduce the likelihood that a fire could spread to another. The horizontal spacing requirements for flat land are that individual trees need to be 10 feet apart and shrubs need to be spaced twice their width. However, the spacing requirements get bigger as the surrounding land becomes steeper. 

The other spacing method is vertical spacing, which is the minimum distance between combustible materials above and on the ground. The minimum height of branches for trees must be at least 6 feet, and the width of combustible materials near a tree must be 3 times the distance between the branches and the materials. This way prevents flames from spreading to more combustible materials. However, the vertical distance requirements increase when the surrounding land becomes steeper.

To effectively spread the main ideas, the LBHS FLOW freshmen, along with the Laguna Beach Fire Department, the Laguna Beach County Water District, and the Greater Laguna Coast Fire Safe Council, will be creating reusable fire-safety tote bags to be distributed to the Laguna Beach community. The main purpose of the distribution is to better educate others about using defensible space and home hardening to reduce wildfire risk. Since this bag is reusable, it will have a stronger effect on helping the community better prepare for wildfires.

“It happened to hit my home, and it burned my house down,”  Dr. David Horne said. The destruction caused by the 1993 Laguna Beach Fire was so severe that he witnessed his home burn to the ground, highlighting the city's lack of preparedness for wildfire risk and the poor fire resistance of his home and many others.

In the LBFD Defensible Space video, Fire Safety Inspector Christopher Gort of the Fire Prevention Division of the LBFD said, “The most critical point of any home is the roof. A Class-A roof, made of non-combustible materials such as metal, clay, or treated asphalt, offers the greatest protection from wildfire, making it the most critical step in protecting your home”. His statement about roofs highlights the importance of hardening them, since most home ignitions are caused by embers. Reinforcing the roof with non-combustible materials helps reduce the likelihood of a roof fire. 

Christopher Gort also said, “Windows are also a susceptible point in the home and should be constructed with double-glazed pane, tempered glass to resist radiant heat transfer”. His advice to harden windows is worth taking, since embers can pass through gaps and set the interior on fire. In fact, as long as gaps are more than ⅛ inch high, embers can flow into the house. Windows hardened as he described will prevent embers from passing through gaps in window frames, thus preventing potential damage.

A resident in Laguna Beach named Jit Oon said, “The only thing I know is to call 911 if there is a fire.” His words further highlight the importance of distributing reusable fire-safety tote bags to the Laguna Beach community, as they would help people like him become more aware of wildfire risk. People like him don’t have much knowledge about wildfires, which presents an opportunity to further spread the advice.

With wildfires in California becoming increasingly destructive, learning about fire safety is no longer optional. The 2026 FLOW fire-safety campaign will aim to spread the message widely and, hopefully, help the unaware become aware of the basic ideas: defensible space and home hardening. With reusable fire-safety tote bags, they will have a bigger impact on wildfire risk awareness.

For the Laguna Beach community, a proper understanding of wildfire risk can help residents protect their cherished memories. For Californians, all of them are in the same boat, the boat where wildfires shake it really hard, which is anchored by an understanding of the risk. And for communities around the world, good preparation and understanding can help them not just cope with wildfire risk but also with other disasters. Humanity can become more resilient by being aware of the dangers.

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