Middletown >> Thursday night’s town hall meeting at Middletown High School saw representatives from Lake County government, PG&E, AT&T, Cal Recycle and the California Office of Emergency Services (OES) — among many others — and they all had one thing to say: fire victims need to register with the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA). Doing so gives those who have been affected a whole host of support, including lot cleanup by CalRecycle.
“They can’t help you if you don’t register,” said District 5 Supervisor Rob Brown.
People also need to sign a Right of Entry (ROE) permit to allow cleanup crews onto their property to inspect the property, conduct a hazmat sweep and clear out ash.
Officials urged people not to sift through damaged property themselves, as homes — particularly those built before 1980 — are highly likely to contain asbestos. But for those who do want to look through debris for any surviving personal property, the county gave out respirators and asked that people wear them. Officials added that children should not play beside burnt lots.
CalRecycle will be conducting the cleanups. They’re planning to hire local contractors and train hundreds of workers to make sure the ash is dealt with safely and correctly. The agency has plenty of hands-on experience and though cleanup is going to take time, CalRecycle is prepared.
Todd Thalhamer, a Waste Management Engineer and a Middletown High School graduate, created the cleanup program in 2007 after the Angora fire. Following a 2014 fire in Weed, Thalhamer and his crew took eight weeks to clean up over 150 damaged homes. Now, they hope to get all the ash off the ground by Christmas.
“There’s hope coming,” said Thalhamer. “It’s going to take a lot of effort.”
They’ll wander the lots 24-48 hours in advance, then come in and water them down (to prevent ash and harmful debris from clouding the air) before hauling away concrete, ash and debris. They’ll focus first on properties near population centers, particularly those surrounding Middletown High School. They’re planning to start immediately and ask that those with damaged properties fill out REO permits as soon as possible.
“We will bring resources, but it’s going to take us time,” Thalhamer said.
CalRecycle put in efforts to simplify any insurance issues. If a fire victim doesn’t have insurance, they will clean up the lot with no cost to the property owner. Those with insurance are responsible for only what their insurance policy states.
“Your county support is here for you,” Thalhamer added. “It’s called Middletown strong and I’m proud to be right here.”
In order to ensure the cleanup process runs smoothly, most residents cannot reside in RVs on damaged lots due to debris and asbestos. “One of the things we need to be really cognizant of is not spreading that further,” said Lake County Community Development director Richard Coel.
However, the county is currently identifying sites where they can set up temporary RV campsites close to town.
Aside from registering with FEMA, one of the immediate steps people need to take is working on Proof of Loss for their insurance companies. Those who lost property need to document thoroughly the valuables they had in their homes or structures and the value of the home itself. They should contact their insurance company right away.
A permit center for south Lake County is also in development. It will have a number of people on hand to help streamline the permitting process. Officials insisted that land owners will not be responsible for building permit fees even if they don’t have insurance.
While there is concern surrounding fraudulent contractors when it comes to rebuilding, the North Coast Builders Exchange was on hand at the town hall meeting to provide residents with a list of 1,000 service people and licensed contractors. The list will also be online at www.rebuildinglakecounty.com.
“There’s going to be hope and rebuilding,” said North Coast Builders Exchange Cheif Executive Contractor Keith Woods, who also commended the county on their extraordinary show of support and resilience. “Thank you for being Lake County,” he added.
As AT&T works to replace approximately 360 poles and 200,000 feet of copper wire with fiber wire, affected customers can also contact the company about remote call forwarding from a land line to a cell phone. Though there is usually a fee with this service, AT&T said they will wave the installation fee and provide a month of free service for people who lost their homes and landlines. Their customer hotline is 877-920-0362 and it will be manned from 6:30 a.m. to 5 p.m.
PG&E is also working tirelessly to restore power across the county. They have more than 1,000 personnel on the job. As of the Thursday night meeting, they’d replaced 700 poles and strung 100 miles of new power lines. After the Valley fire they had 7,000 customers out of power, but now that number is down to 2,000.
“The first priority was to safely restore power as quickly as we could,” said PG&E Senior Manager Carl Schoenhofer. “We still have work to do but we’ll see it through to the end.”
The audience applauded PG&E’s efforts. “I don’t think I’ll ever complain about my PG&E bill again,” said Brown.
Jennifer Gruenke can be reached at 900-2019.
