LAKE COUNTY >> Two years after the Valley Fire, recovery is still in its early stages.
Completing cleanup after the destruction of 76,067-acres required several months. Insurance funds are still being collected from those who had lost their homes. Work on homes destroyed in Anderson Springs, Starview Springs, Bonanza Springs and the Harbin Hot Springs — as well as other areas — is still underway. Currently, the county has updated the construction project for the water system in Anderson Springs.
Lake County Special Districts Deputy Administrator Scott Harter said some updates on the wait list include filling potholes and utility locations, relocating fire hydrants, adjusting lots with unique conditions, adjusting unit quantities and numerous other replacements.
“Part of the Valley Fire Recover projects, we had two contractors up there. One’s primary focus was the water meter and service line replacement and the focus of the other contractor is a mainline replacement in Starview as well as the installation of fire hydrants,” Harter said.
A common theme for the projects currently underway involve the age of utility systems and the uncertainty of existing parts. For many dated systems there are no plans to be found.
“That uncertainty led to additional work, which included potholing and locating the existing utilities so we can tie into them,” Harter said.
Any changes made to the projects are reimbursable by FEMA and the county’s insurance because this is directly involved in the recovery efforts.
“The original contract amount was for that $1.647 million and that is being reimbursed 100 percent by a combination of FEMA and insurance. This additional change order for $29,000 is within the scope of the original project worksheet and they (the insurance and FEMA) have both indicated that as long as the changes are within the scope of the project worksheet as originally envisioned, which these are, they will reimburse,” Harter said.
The county is still collecting insurance funds as well from property owners. A total of 1,955 structures were destroyed form the fire including 1,281 homes and 27 multi-family structures.
Marcy Harrison from the County Administrative Office said they did send out a third reminder notice on Friday so they expect more phone calls and updates from that.
“We have a total payment amount of $4.5 million and the total number of payments is 318 so that’s roughly about 31 payments from last month and a monthly increase of $353,401,” Harrison said.
She said she will be putting together documents to see who has responded to the request and who has not just to get an estimate to see who the county still has not heard from.
“I’d say roughly we’ve heard from over half which is actually pretty good. About 1,400 letters went out between non-insured and insured and we’ve received responses from over half and even some that are still in the process with the insurance companies,” Harrison said.
All the funds collected will be going back to the state for the cleanup done by the entity they contracted through.
