Emergency Alerts and Wildfire Rules in Laguna Beach

Sign up for alerts

The city’s Alert and Warning page says some of its systems need a sign-up and others reach everyone in an area.

1. City text alerts. Text 92651 to 888-777. This covers citywide emergency alerts and the Community Newsletter. The city also lists separate texts for traffic (LBTRAFFIC), business notices (LBBIZ), dog park closures (LBDOGPARK) and Red Flag parking (LBREDFLAG), all to 888-777. The same alerts run in the Nixle Everbridge app.
2. AlertOC. This is Orange County’s regional notification system. The city says it can target a single area or neighborhood, and it asks residents to register at AlertOC.com.
3. Wireless Emergency Alerts. No registration. They use the same technology as Amber Alerts, reach phones in the affected area and reach visitors too.
4. Outdoor warning sirens and speakers. The city installed them with Genasys. It tests them every quarter at 4:00 PM and announces each test ahead of time. As of October 2026, its Alert and Warning page lists the next test for Wednesday, December 2, 2026, moved from December 15. Dates can change.

The county’s Emergency Alert System can only target all of Orange County, not Laguna Beach alone, according to the city.

Power shutoff alerts

The city’s Public Safety Power Shutoffs page says Southern California Edison and San Diego Gas & Electric may both shut off power in parts of Laguna Beach during dangerous fire weather. Each utility sends its own alerts:

• SCE. Customers choose email, text or voice alerts in the Preference Center of their SCE account. SCE also offers PSPS address alerts for people without their own account, such as tenants and caregivers.
• SDG&E. It says direct alerts start 24 to 48 hours before a shutoff and go by phone, text or email to the contact details in My Energy Center. Its Alerts by SDGE app tracks up to five addresses and needs no account number.

Find your evacuation zone

The city’s Evacuation Planning page lists 22 evacuation management zones: LAB01 Arch Beach Heights, LAB02 Balboa Nyes, LAB03 Big Bend, LAB04 Bluebird Canyon, LAB05 Boat Canyon, LAB06 Canyon Acres, LAB07 Ceanothus, LAB08 El Toro, LAB09 North Coast, LAB10 Downtown, LAB11 Sun Valley, LAB12 Emerald Bay, LAB13 Irvine Cove, LAB14 Mar Vista, LAB15 Old Top of the World, LAB16 Park Avenue, LAB17 Sunset, LAB18 Temple Hills, LAB19 Top of the World, LAB20 Wesley, LAB21 Central Coast and LAB22 South Coast.

Each zone has its own evacuation map on that page, and a citywide map shows all 22. The city recommends you download and print the map for your zone and learn your routes.

The city’s public GIS map shows a different breakdown. Its evacuation zone layer stops at LAB20 and splits the coast into LAB09a (North Coast), LAB09b (Central Coast) and LAB09c (South Coast). It has no Sun Valley zone, and it labels LAB08 Club Laguna and LAB11 El Toro. Search your address on the GIS map, then confirm your zone on the citywide map on the Evacuation Planning page, because the two use different names and numbers in places.

Order and warning

The city’s Evacuation Planning page defines two terms.

• Evacuation Order: an imminent threat to life and property. The city says people and pets in the area should leave now, and that anyone who stays cannot expect rescue once the incident is under way.
• Evacuation Warning: a potential threat. The city says to prepare to leave, and that people with access or functional needs and people with large animals should go now. If you feel threatened at any point, the city says to leave without waiting for an official notice.

Get ready to leave

The city’s Prepare for Emergencies page lists these steps:

1. Know your evacuation zone and at least two routes out of your neighborhood.
2. Assemble an emergency kit. The city says you may have to rely on it for at least a week, so include pet supplies and anything your household needs. It has videos on building a go-kit, on alerts and on evacuations.
3. Write a household plan: how people contact each other and where you meet.
4. Make an evacuation list of what to grab, and keep key phone numbers on paper.
5. Get to know your neighbors and what help they might need.

For a Public Safety Power Shutoff, the city also asks you to keep your gas tank at least half full, or your electric vehicle charged enough to evacuate. Southern California Edison posts shutoff information at sce.com/psps and takes calls at 1-800-611-1911.

Red Flag Warning days and parking

A Red Flag Warning is a National Weather Service product. The city’s page says one is issued when low humidity, strong winds or dry lightning meet set thresholds, and that Laguna Beach averages about one warning day a year.

On those days, parking restrictions apply on named streets in Bluebird Canyon, Canyon Acres and Diamond/Crestview. The city says its 2021 Wildfire Egress Study identified those neighborhoods as “access impaired” because of narrow, winding roads. Where it can, the city limits parking to one side of the street. It posts the status at the top of its Red Flag Parking page, opens signs, texts the LBREDFLAG group and posts on social media. Parking and permits covers the citation rules.

Brush clearance and defensible space

The Laguna Beach Fire Department runs the city’s vegetation rules. Its Wildfire Mitigation page says 87 percent of the city’s land area, and about 65 percent of its buildable property, falls in the Very High Fire Hazard Severity Zone as CAL FIRE designates it. The city adopted 2025 maps and offers an address lookup for the Moderate, High and Very High levels.

The department describes four programs:

• Defensible space. State law requires it around structures in the Very High zone. It runs from the building out to 100 feet or the property line: 0 to 5 feet, 5 to 30 feet and 30 to 100 feet, with more work closer to the house. Ordinance 1664 made the city’s guideline apply to existing structures on November 5, 2021.
• Fuel modification for development. New construction and major remodels in the city’s FM Zone follow the 2019 standards, and the city says homes built under these standards must be kept in their approved fuel-modified state permanently.
• Weed abatement. The department runs it every spring in the developed part of town under Ordinance 1510.
• Fuel breaks. About 363 acres, of which roughly 276 are grazed by goats and the rest cleared by hand crews.

The department’s Goat Grazing Program page says the city has used goats to reduce wildfire fuel since the early 1990s and expanded the program after the 1993 fire. The goats graze 10 fuel modification zones on the city’s edge, usually when vegetation is dry, and the city uses between 75 and 600 goats a year. Botanists flag and fence off sensitive plants before grazing starts. The department says the fuel break program is expanding to South Laguna, Park Avenue and lower Bluebird Canyon.

If you see overgrown, dry vegetation, you can report it through the city’s AskLaguna tool or app. If you are selling a home of one to four units in the Very High zone, the fire department performs the AB 38 defensible-space inspection and, once the property meets the requirements, issues a Letter of Compliance. The city says fire prevention staff respond to a request within one to two business days.

The department also does a free in-home Wildfire Consultation for property owners. For the structure itself, its Home Hardening page covers roofs, gutters, vents, eaves, siding, windows and decks.

Community programs

The city’s CERT Academy is free, about 25 hours of classes and a final drill, for anyone 13 or older who lives, works or attends school in Laguna Beach. You must attend every session. Graduates can apply to join the city’s Community Emergency Response Team after a background check and more training. Call the Community Preparedness Educator at (949) 715-8615. The volunteering page lists CERT with other ways to help in town.

Neighborhoods of at least eight homes can apply to become a Firewise USA community with help from the Fire Prevention Division at (949) 497-0726. The city’s Firewise page lists the recognized ones.

Phone numbers

• Emergency: 911
• Fire Department non-emergency: (949) 497-0700
• Emergency Management Administrator: (949) 497-0350
• City Hall: (949) 497-3311

For hospitals and poison control, see hospitals and urgent care.