Early this morning at about 8:00 am, the Laguna Beach lifeguards notified Fire, Marine Safety and Police that a landslide had occurred between 9th and 10th street, beach side. The. landslide took out quite a bit of bluff - they’re estimating approximately 500 cubic yards in the slide – which took out HOA-access stairs to the beach. Three houses in the area on the bluff were not involved in the landslide, but geologists are on their way to assess stability of the bluff and the structures.
NOTE: 1000 Steps Beach has been closed to the public until further notice.
I talked with Battalion Chief Ian Da Costa at the Laguna Beach Fire Department. Hear the complete audio replay, above, or read the transcript here:
Battalion Chief Ian Da Costa:
At 7:59 AM our emergency communications center received a 911 call from our lifeguards stating that there was a landslide right around Point Place down in between 9th and 10th Street Beach. They dispatched for “a landslide involving a structure,” which involved a coordinated response with Marine Safety, Laguna Beach Fire, Laguna Beach Police and Mutual Aid with Orange County Fire Authority.
Our first units got on scene and quickly identified that there were no structures involved right now, but there is a good section of the bluff down … initial estimates were about 500 cubic yards of material that was down on the beach, along with some private access stairway and walkways from Point Place to the beach as well that is involved.
Due to the time of day and the possibility of some pedestrian activity down there, and with an abundance of caution, we are now waiting for a human detection canine from Orange County Fire Authority’s Urban Search & Rescue Team just to make sure that there's no human life involved along or down underneath the debris pile. Right now we don't anticipate it, but we just wanted to make sure, just with an abundance of caution, that that was taken care of.
And then after, once we get that “All Clear,” we are going to hand the scene over to the City’s Public Works and Building Department and they will make the necessary closures that they seem fit.
We also are waiting a geologist to come and assess the hillside for the stability.
Diane Armitage:
So, basically … structures up above - the houses - not impacted for now but they’ve lost their stairway in their beach access.
Battalion Chief Ian Da Costa:
Yeah, so what I'm gathering is that the stairway … that access down to the beach … is an HOA that's shared between the residents on Point Place. That's a joint ownership to my understanding as of right now. But that has been impacted; it is no longer passable.
As of right now, there are three houses that are right on the hillside that were not affected in the slide. The [Laguna Beach] City’s Building Department is going to do further assessment on the stability of the land and the structures.
@2025, Diane Armitage, BestofLagunaBeach.com
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