Lake County >> Just over 24 hours after the Valley Fire erupted, District 5 Supervisor Rob Brown stood in front of a worried crowd gathered at Kelseyville High School and, microphone in hand, shouted out his cell phone number. He urged people to call if they needed anything.
In the two months since, Brown has received calls numbering in the thousands. At every meeting and town hall he has repeated the act, with encouragements that citizens call him with any questions or concerns. In the last 60 days, he’s also put 9,700 miles on his car. Recently he made another commitment.
Brown, currently on his fourth term with the Board of Supervisors (BOS), had no intention of running for another term. But then the fire hit. The rest has been a blur of activity.
He was at a football game when he got the call at 2:10 p.m. on September 12. The Valley Fire was barreling through Cobb. Brown took note of the conditions — the wind, high temperatures, humidity — and his heart sank. He knew it was perfect weather for a devastating fire.
He headed for his home in Cobb, where barricades had been set up, but citizens were simply driving around them. Brown called the Sheriff’s Office for an explanation and was told they didn’t have enough manpower to station officers there. So Brown moved into action. From 4 p.m. until 8 a.m. the next morning he stayed at that barricade, directing traffic and keeping people from the burn area. He and Sheriff Brian Martin didn’t sleep for four days.
It was just the beginning of the tireless efforts Brown has put in since the fire began. He often works most of the day, arriving home at 11 p.m. or later and getting up at 3 a.m. to do it all over again. “It’s just been ongoing and nonstop the whole time,” he said. “It’s not going to be 20 hours a day forever, but it’s going to be every day for a long time.”
One of the efforts he personally oversaw was the evacuation of Clearlake Riviera, which is part of his district. The county didn’t have enough law enforcement to spare, so Brown called up all of his family and friends and stationed them at every intersection to direct traffic during the evacuation. He also made sure people who were not in the affected areas were still getting their needs taken care of, like trash service and mail delivery.
Brown has moved on to recovery efforts, which are just beginning. For many years to come, but especially these next couple of years, the county will need more help than ever. Brown felt he could no longer take a step back from the BOS. “I felt an overwhelming sense of guilt that I was going to be walking away from my community when they needed me most,” Brown said.
His decision to run for a fifth term also had to do with Beau Moore, who lost his home in the Valley Fire. Brown endorsed Moore’s run for District 5 Supervisor, but Moore withdrew from the race in the aftermath of the fire. Brown said he would never run against Moore, but this move changed things.
Now is not the time for a newcomer to take over the position, Brown said. “The next couple of years are going to be critical to have somebody in place that not only knows how to solve the problem but can identity the problem,” he continued. “You only get one chance to do this right.”
Before the fire devastated much of south Lake County, Brown was pretty adamant about not running for another term, but it’s clear that all thoughts of handing his seat over have vanished. “It’s not how I planned on spending the next four years of my life,” he said. “This is my home, these are my family, my friends. I will do whatever I need to do to make sure the rebuild goes as smoothly and quickly as possible.”
Brown and other county officials have placed much of their focus on housing. A few days ago, Brown visited Hidden Valley Lake, where people who lost their homes have set up tents and tarps as makeshift shelters. “I’m so impressed by the resiliency of those people,” he said.
Debris removal is also high on his agenda. He’s been heavily involved in removing dead trees, plus there are erosion control measures to consider and the clearing of rivers to prevent flooding. These are all important as winter moves in, and with it possible historic levels of rainfall. It doesn’t always run smoothly and there are frustrations. But he and others are working to ease recovery.
He has plenty of plans for the future, for all of Lake County. There’s the fire danger in the communities lining Konocti, employee retention, specifically law enforcement and ensuring schools and business stay viable, to keep people in the county. Then there’s the forest destroyed by the fire. Brown said the county needs to replant the entire area and once they’re done, they’ll probably have planted a million trees.
Brown’s past, his two-term position on the Kelseyville Unified Board of Trustees, his bail bonds business, his work experience, they’ve all reached this point. “I’ve been training my whole life for this moment to try and do what’s right for my community,” he said.
Jennifer Gruenke can be reached at 900-2019.
