Fire Risk
High-risk location
high-risk city
Lessons from the Rancho Fire – July 2025
On July 8, 2025, the Rancho Fire broke out less than two miles from the proposed pump track site. A 13-year-old boy was arrested for starting the blaze with illegal fireworks, which burned nearly five acres, forced evacuations, and caused power outages throughout the area.
Fortunately, firefighters contained it before it reached homes - but this incident proved just how vulnerable our hillsides are to human-caused ignition.
Introducing a paved, unsupervised bike park into that same environment is like placing a matchbox in a tinder field — drawing new groups, new activity, and new ignition risks into terrain that’s already one spark away from disaster.
Firefighters and Residents Agree: Prevention Comes First
Our community invests millions annually in defensible space, fuel reduction, and emergency preparedness. Building a paved, high-traffic recreation area next to native vegetation works against every principle of fire mitigation and public safety.
This project would:
Increase ignition risk from bikes, fireworks, cigarettes, and unsupervised activity.
Create new challenges for evacuation and emergency response on narrow residential streets.
Undermine the City’s own Fire Department Wildfire Mitigation Plan and General Plan Safety Element.
Common Sense Over Concrete
Laguna Beach has seen too many close calls. We don’t need to wait for another fire to recognize the danger.
Arch Beach United stands for prevention over reaction — protecting the safety of our residents, our wildlife, and our first responders.
Laguna Beach is officially designated a Very High Fire Hazard Severity Zone (VHFHSZ) - one of the most fire-prone coastal regions in California. The open hills surrounding Moulton Meadows Park are covered with dry native brush and steep terrain that make firefighting access difficult and fire spread rapid.
Adding a paved pump track and attracting new groups of unsupervised youth, bikers, and nighttime visitors directly into this environment isn’t recreation - it’s risk.
The project invites activity and ignition sources into a dry, windy area already on edge each summer.