City of Irvine
2020 Local Hazard Mitigation Plan
T HREAT P ROFILES
Aircraft Incident
Physical Threat
All structures located within the John Wayne Airport AELUP planning boundary are at an elevated risk to aircraft incidents, predominantly associated with landing, take off, and approach activities. Beyond this planning area, the risk associated with aircraft incidents is limited to flyover activities above the City. All these incidents have the potential to send the bodies of the aircraft crashing down on any structures or physical assets lying below. Even if the aircraft does not crash within the City, it is possible that falling debris could land on and damage structures in the City. An aircraft incident may be an act of terrorism, in which case the target of the terrorists would likely be a government building or a place where many people are gathered. For more information on the threats of terrorist attacks in Irvine, please refer to the Human- Caused Hazards section.
Social Threat
All persons in Irvine may be threatened by an aircraft incident. Typically, populations located near John Wayne Airport would have a higher probability of being impacted versus populations located in the southern portions of the City. Developments located within the John Wayne Airport AELUP planning boundary should have taken the use intensity recommendations and development standards of this plan into consideration to ensure the density of people and the height of buildings within these areas reduce unnecessary exposure to these hazards. Residents and employees in the impacted area of an aircraft incident may experience property damage or loss, and/or emotional distress as a result of losing family or friends in the crash or having witnessed the event or its aftermath. If future events occur in Irvine, it is assumed that lower-income persons may not be able to recover as easily (afford to repair the damage to their homes, purchasing new automobiles to replace any destroyed, etc.).
Other Threats
Depending on the severity of the aircraft incident, some services in the City could be temporarily disrupted. For example, falling debris from an aircraft incident could damage or destroy a section of the power transmission lines in the City, cutting off power to residents and businesses. Debris could also fall onto a roadway and obstruct the normal flow of traffic through Irvine. A more severe aircraft incident, in which an entire aircraft crashes into a section of the City, would likely ignite a blaze impacting the area where the plane went down. Any transmission wires or pipelines in the crash site would likely be affected to some degree, resulting in partial or complete outages of utility services to the sections of the City. A severe aircraft incident that occurs at a major employment center in the City would almost certainly result in the closure of the employers located in the area of the crash until authorities deem it safe for employees to return to work. This would result in a loss of economic activity in the City.
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