LAKE COUNTY, Calif. — The California Governor's Office of Emergency Services said the cleanup of properties impacted by the August Cache fire in Clearlake has been completed.
Cal OES reported that state contractors have cleared the remains — burned metal, concrete, ash and contaminated soil — from all 78 homes and property in Lake County whose owners enrolled in the state's Consolidated Debris Removal Program.
At the same time, they also completed the cleanup work on all 19 properties in Mendocino County impacted by last year’s Hopkins fires.
In total, state-managed crews removed 5,024 tons of debris from Mendocino County and 9,308 tons of debris from Lake County, Cal OES reported.
Metal and concrete is diverted for recycling, while ash, debris, and contaminated soil is disposed of at lined landfills approved by the Regional Water Quality Control Board.
Under the program, administered by Cal OES and the California Department of Resources Recycling and Recovery, or CalRecycle, in collaboration with county officials, participating property owners incur no direct costs.
Property owners opted into the program by submitting a right-of-entry form to their county, which allows the state to begin work on their property and incur no direct costs for the removal of burned metal, concrete, ash and contaminated soil from their properties.
Statewide, crews have removed debris from 1,138, or 66.4%, of the 1,715 parcels enrolled in the full program. An additional 377 properties are participating in the hazardous trees-only element of the program.
State and federal officials are reviewing additional commercial parcels that may be subsequently approved for debris removal.
Steps left to complete
Before homeowners can begin rebuilding, cleared properties need additional work including:
• Separate contractors collect soil samples for verification at a laboratory that they meet state environmental health and safety standards.
• Contractors next may install erosion control measures.
• Certified arborists or professional foresters assess wildfire-damaged trees in danger of falling on the public or public infrastructure for removal by separate contractors.
• Finally, state officials inspect the property to verify all completed work meets state standards. Debris officials submit a final inspection report to local officials to approve the property for reconstruction.
To date, 15 properties in Lake County have completed the entire debris removal process and been returned to county officials to begin the permitting process.
Property owners can track progress on the Debris Operations Dashboard for the 2021 statewide wildfires.
The dashboard is updated every hour and provides users with the ability to search by county or address.