Six weeks into his job and just 48 hours before being officially pinned as the city’s fire chief, Mike Garcia led his department in battling a 150-acre blaze over the weekend that forced the evacuation of 1,500 residents from 600 homes in the Top of the World neighborhood.
The brush fire that started at 2 p.m. Saturday, June 2 in Aliso Woods Canyon, fell under the unified command of Laguna Beach Fire Department, Orange County Fire Authority and OC Parks. As of Monday morning, the 150-acre blaze was 55 percent contained.
Just an hour before the fire broke out, Garcia, 53, spoke from his home in La Mirada about taking the position on April 30 and his efforts to build a stronger department by learning from both sworn and civilian members of the Laguna Beach Fire Department.