LAKEPORT, Calif. – On Tuesday the Board of Supervisors voted to continue emergency declarations related to the wildland fires earlier this year and the ongoing drought, and received a number of updates from county department heads about the progress on fire recovery activities.
County Health Officer Dr. Karen Tait returned to the board to ask for another two-week extension of the local health emergency she declared in response to the Valley fire in September, a request the board granted.
Along with Tait, county Environmental Health Director Ray Ruminski reported on the cleanup efforts.
Of the 1,214 sites that have registered right of entry forms for cleanup with the county, 307 parcels have been cleared of debris, Ruminski said.
Of those 307 parcels, 139 have been sampled for heavy metal contamination in the soil. Ruminski said that of those 139 sampled, 55 have had the samples returned from the lab, reviewed and approved.
He said 50 teams are assigned to cleanup, plus a double team is working on the commercial structures cleanup this week.
Regarding the Rocky and Jerusalem fires cleanup, Ruminski said 56 sites have registered with rights of entry and 46 sites have had the debris removal process completed.
County Administrative Officer Matt Perry also asked the board to continue the drought emergency declaration – first passed in March 2014 – and the wildfire emergency declaration from this summer, as the conditions for both still exist. In separate votes, the board unanimously approved extending those declarations.
Ongoing issues with donations, campground
Social Services Director Carol Huchingson, who the board also appointed to be the county's recovery coordinator, gave updates on other aspects of fire recovery, including offering assistance to people who continue to camp at the Hidden Valley Lake Campground.
She said the county is working with the Hidden Valley Lake Association on plans to close the campground at noon on Monday, Dec. 7.
A letter was being prepared to present to the campers explaining the risk to the campground due to the close proximity to Gallagher Creek, she said. Officials have been concerned about conditions at the campground facility should predictions for a wet winter prove true.
Huchingson said county shelter and housing staff will host a resource fair from 4 to 7 p.m. Friday at Coyote Valley Elementary School for those still at the campground.
Separately, she said they are receiving reports that many of the people who are still staying at the campground are now making other arrangements, with some of the tent campers planning to move on this week.
On Mondays and Thursdays Huchingson is holding office hours in Middletown at the Gibson Museum and Cultural Center, 21267 Calistoga Road.
“The public is starting to come in and talk with me about disaster concerns and I would have to say that trees are the No. 1 issue at this point,” she said, explaining that includes not only felled trees people are left with in their yards and on building sites, but also dead trees.
She said the county's Valley Fire Recovery Task Force is working to address those tree-related concerns.
Deputy County Administrative Officer Jeff Rein updated the board on continuing efforts to deal with the donations that have inundated the county in the fire's aftermath.
He said the enormity of the situation overwhelmed the county's ability to respond, and created the potential for a health and safety risk.
In light of the urgency of dealing with the donations, and at the suggestion of the California Office of Emergency Services, Rein said he enlisted the services of the California Conservation Corps, which arrived in October to assist with sorting donations.
He said he believed – based on conversations in the Emergency Operations Center and a followup email with state officials – that Cal OES would cover the entire cost of having the corps' assistance.
However, now there is a concern that the state may only cover 75 percent of the bill, which has come to $262,000, Rein said.
“We were overwhelmed with donations. We still are,” said Huchingson, noting that efforts continue to sort, manage and distribute the donations.
She pointed out that donations aren't as free as one might think. Referring to the corps' bill, she said, “It costs that kind of money to manage them. It's very, very significant.”
Even with putting out the word several weeks ago that the county is no longer accepting donations, Huchingson said, “Nonetheless, they keep coming.”
Rein said the county is still finding out about donations in various locations. “There's frankly no end in sight right now.”
He said he has discontinued the California Conservation Corps and is now looking at enlisting the help of AmeriCorps, which is free.
The supervisors acknowledged that, in the recovery process, mistake are going to be made.
“We're learning this as we go along,” said Supervisor Rob Brown.
A countywide effort
In other news, Undersheriff Chris Macedo told the board that the sheriff's office is continuing enhanced patrols of the Valley fire area in an effort to catch any illegal activity. He said he had nothing significant to report on that point.
On the Office of Emergency Services side, Macedo said that on Tuesday morning Sheriff Brian Martin, Huchingson and Perry met. The sheriff's office is poised to take over Lake County OES again at the board's direction.
“The county as a whole – county OES, the county government – wasn't prepared for this type of disaster,” Macedo said of the Valley fire.
He said officials thought they were prepared after the Wye fire of 2012, “But not to this magnitude.”
Now, Macedo said, county officials are going back and looking at what they did right and what they did wrong, so they can improve response for the future.
For that process to succeed, he said the board will need to be engaged in determining what they want the Lake County OES to look like going forward.
“It's not just about one agency in the county responding to this. It's about every agency in the county responding to this,” Macedo said, explaining that everyone from new employees to more senior department heads have a role.
He foresees a lot of training for county staff in the future, with some people likely to be out of their comfort zones. All county employees are registered disaster service workers, he added.
Macedo said county officials will put together a comprehensive emergency plan to be more prepared for future incidents.
The board also received updates from Special Districts Administrator Mark Dellinger, who reported on the potential for a huge number of demands on the county's Middletown sewer treatment property.
Those potential demands include Calpine's need for a 15-acre temporary housing site – for between two and six months – for a crew to rebuild the geothermal steamfield cooling tower damaged in the fire, he said.
The Federal Emergency Management Agency and the US Army Corps of Engineers also are looking for areas for temporary housing not in the floodplain, he said.
“Your board may have to set some priorities,” Dellinger said.
Community Development Director Rick Coel told the board he and his staff are working to get a permit center set up in the Pine Room at the Middletown Senior Center next week.
“Staffing that facility is going to be difficult,” he said, explaining that his department currently is operating under personnel shortages.
Even if he fills his currently vacant positions, Coel said he expects he will need more staffing next year.
He estimated that if 600 homes – half of those destroyed – are rebuilt over the coming two years, there will be $750,000 in building fees, or an average of $1,200 per stick-built home.
Perry also reported that Macedo is working on memorandums of understanding with the nearly 40 law enforcement agencies that helped respond to the Valley fire, with more than 30 agencies from across the state offering supports on the Office of Emergency Services side.
Of those agencies that offered assistance, Perry said some are charging for their help and others are not.
In other Valley fire-related news, the board approved sending a letter to Assemblyman Bill Dodd and state Sen. Mike McGuire asking for special legislation to backfill the loss of property tax to the county due to the fire and for a state waiver of the local cost for projects eligible for funding under the California Disaster Assistance Act.
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Supervisors continue wildfire, drought emergencies; department heads give fire recovery updates
- Elizabeth Larson
- Posted On