Editor:
Re: “Laguna’s Safety Rating Improves,” LB Indy, Aug 19 2011
This is good news. Maybe now the council can end the oppressive era of tiki torch prohibition.
Before the council enacted the tiki torch ban in December 2010, I searched the web sites of the National Fire Safety Council, the National Fire Protection Agency, the City of Laguna Beach, and Cal Fire, and got 0 hits for tiki torches (that’s zero, a bagel, zip). I learned that the biggest causes of structural fires “include arson, electrical problems, combustibles too close to heat sources, unattended cooking and misuse of smoking materials.” Another web site said the most common cause of fires is cooking!
I noted this in a letter to my favorite councilwoman, and I also noted that the spate of household fires in 2009-2010 in Laguna Beach had resulted from electrical appliances, not from tiki torches!
And, conspicuously missing from the list of items in your Aug. 19 article and the accompanying letter is – you guessed it – tiki torches.
And, the article also states that insurance rates will not be coming down as a result of our recent code changes – i.e., there is no benefit for the majority of the citizens of Laguna Beach.
So come on City Council. It’s time to un-ban something (for a change). This tiki torch prohibition would be a good place to start.
John T. Robinson, Laguna Beach
