3 Families Hit by Laguna Fire to Start Building : Recovery: Survivors on tiny street have overcome geological worries, insurance obstacles and neighbors fighting each other.

By REBECCA TROUNSON

April 24, 1995 12 AM PT

TIMES STAFF WRITER

LAGUNA BEACH — Nearly 18 months after the firestorm that destroyed their homes and hundreds of others, three families on a tiny, winding street high above downtown are about to break ground on their new homes.

“I didn’t think this day was ever going to get here,” Jackie Allen says of the work scheduled to start today at her burned-out lot on Buena Vista Way. “I can’t wait to get back to our home.”

The journey to this point has been long and often frustrating for the fire survivors of this narrow ribbon of a street where nine homes were consumed by the flames that ravaged this community in October, 1993. Geological worries, insurance problems and disputes among former neighbors have slowed the pace of rebuilding here, pushing it back to a later date than in most of Laguna’s other fire-scarred neighborhoods.

With construction now about to begin on the Allens’ new Mediterranean-style home--and within weeks at two other Buena Vista “fire rebuilds”--there is renewed hope here that this tiny street’s recovery may finally be in sight.

“It’s hard to believe it’s finally going to happen,” Jim Allen said. “It’s been so long now that sometimes you sit back and you’re not really as antsy as you were before.”

But much of the time, the Allens say, they dream of being back on their tiny street, ensconced in the tile and stucco home that will replace the wood and glass dwelling they lost to the fire.

They and the two others now going forward on Buena Vista--Tom Homan and Sheila Patterson--also find themselves actually looking forward to the inevitable headaches of construction, saying it will be preferable to the snail’s pace progress so far.

“It’s been forever,” said Patterson, who expects to receive a building permit for her home by the end of the month. “It will be two years (after the fire) at least before any of us are back in our homes. That’s just too long.”

She and others now recall with chagrin the goals they set for themselves early on. Soon after the fire, many of those who lost homes here and elsewhere in Laguna predicted they would be back in their homes by the first anniversary of the Oct. 27, 1993 wildfire, or, at the latest, by Christmas, 1994.

Many have acknowledged since then that they were simply unrealistic about how long it would take to deal with the insurance process and plan to build a new home.

But the Buena Vista fire victims occasionally experienced special challenges, beginning with worries raised by geologists of possible instability under their lots. Although the unstable area was later found to be smaller and less serious than feared, the issue delayed rebuilding on the street for months.

The neighborhood’s recovery has been further slowed by the decisions of nearly half the Buena Vista fire victims to build or buy elsewhere in Laguna. With the already soft real estate market now showing the effects of the Orange County financial crisis as well, several of these owners say they have no immediate plans to sell. That raises the prospect their lots will stay vacant for years to come.

Another of the street’s fire victims, UC Irvine Prof. Christian Werner, has been delayed by a dispute with his insurance company but says he still hopes to rebuild.

Yet another, Loretta Edger, who maintains a primary residence in Illinois, is wavering, still uncertain whether to rebuild or sell the Buena Vista property she has owned for 16 years.

“I’m still on the fence,” Edger said, adding that she hopes to make a decision soon and may be encouraged by the sight of her former neighbors moving forward with construction.

For now, though, the weed-clearing and grading has already begun on the Allens’ lot at the far end of the street, bringing cheer to those here who have waited so long for the street’s rebirth.

“Finally,” Jackie Allen said, “we can say we’re getting started.”