Lakeport >> Warehouses are stuffed full of donated goods, shelters are shutting down, agencies continue to process cases and victims sort through the debris. Such is the situation as the deadly Valley Fire dies out.
Several agencies involved in the recovery effort updated the Lake County Board of Supervisors during Tuesday’s regular meeting, providing a comprehensive overview of the different efforts. A separate discussion by the board over a proposal to waive the permitting process and allow temporary housing on private lots was continued to a later meeting.
Carol Huchingson represented the Office of Emergency Services (OES) as Department of Social Services and acting OES Director. Huchingson was in charge of shelter operations before becoming acting director about a week into the Valley Fire. According to her, most shelters are now closed, with the remaining population of displaced residents largely being housed in hotels and the Hidden Valley Lake RV park. Shelters have stopped taking donations of clothing and household items, for the most part.
She informed the board that the OES has been officially closed as disaster services shifted under FEMA control. State agencies remain active in the recovery process, however. Disaster CalFresh has been secured, which offers greatly-expanded eligibility over regular CalFresh. She stated that approximately 500 households have received Disaster CalFresh aid. Registration for CalFresh support ends today.
Trevor Riggin of the American Red Cross reported that the shelter at the Twin Pine Casino in Middletown is currently in standby mode, as there is currently no active population at the shelter. However, the Red Cross is maintaining shelter resources in case flooding becomes a major problem as the county moves into wetter winter months.
He stated that to date Red Cross had opened roughly 1,000 cases on Lake County families and have provided aid to 800 of those. He added they have been providing a large quantity of clean up supplies, items such as gloves, rakes and shovels, and are otherwise maintaining a “heavy presence” in Cobb and Hidden Valley Lake, with food and other assistance efforts. The Red Cross case work center and relief operations headquarters are all based out of Twin Pine Casino.
Riggin also stated that the Red Cross Butte and Valley fires are being managed together, and comprehensively the organization expects to spend an estimated $5.5 million on their relief efforts, of which $.91 of every dollar goes toward victims. He stated that $2.4 million had been raised for California fires and that many donations are still being processed. It would be several weeks, he said, before they knew if there would be more money available for long-term recovery efforts.
He mentioned that aid for Rocky and Jerusalem fire victims is still available, and will be until November.
Jose “Moke” Simon of Middletown Rancheria was given a standing ovation for the tribe’s part in relief efforts, after being commended by the supervisors for their efforts to aid the community. “We are one tribe, we are one family,” Simon said. “I appreciate everybody that came to the table to help with the process. We have been here for thousands of years, and we will be part of the recovery process. We are ready to help the community as quickly and sufficiently as we can.”
He stated they are actively working with Cal Fire and the Board of Education to aid the firefighters and teachers who lost their homes, and for now the hotel is being utilized for fire survivors. The tribe is also working with FEMA to find housing solutions. “We don’t look for praise, we just want to make sure everyone is taken care of.”
Jeff Rein of the County Administrative Office informed the board that the 60,000 square-foot warehouse being utilized as a sorting and distribution hub for all the donated goods is completely full. He added that, in addition to the contents of the warehouse, there are also “28 shipping containers full, 14 semi trucks waiting to enter the county. Not to mention various other places in the county… we are just simply out of space.”
He said a lot of the goods that have been donated are for “a rebuild situation”, forcing the county to look into long-term storage options. He reiterated that no new donations are being sought or accepted, and options to liquidate some of the donations are being explored to create a monetary relief fund that could be used for both current and future disaster relief.
David Fukutomi of CalOES said the California Disaster Relief Fund will pay up to 75 percent of the county’s expenses incurred in the reconstruction process. Likewise assistance from FEMA and a Fire Management Assistance grant will aid in covering the cost of fighting the fires. Additionally, with President Barack Obama granting federal major disaster assistance funds, many more programs are available to the county to offset the accruing costs of cleanup and recovery. He said the process would be “a long and difficult path,” but part of CalOES’s job is to “work to make sure the county gets reimbursed for every dime they’ve been entitled to.”
John Bartlett of FEMA advertised support locations available, in the Safeway Complex in Lakeport, the Cobb post office and in Middletown and Hidden Valley Lake. He said these sites are for survivors to register for assistance and check on their application status. These facilities will be in place at least through next week, he said, and they are trying to transition those “field” locations into more permanent facilities. He also provided the phone number — 800-621-FEMA — for those who need information to call.
Currently, FEMA is looking for sites around the county that are viable as temporary trailer and RV parks to provide housing space for those who have been displaced. A small number of mobile homes will be made available to those who qualify.
