LAKE COUNTY >> Lake County recently approved to send a regional letter requesting a state budget for counties impacted by the October wildfires to Gov. Jerry Brown and the CalOES Director Mark Ghilarducci.
Lake County approves to send a regional letter to Gov. Jerry Brown and the CalOES Director Mark Ghilarducci in regards to a state budget request for counties who were impacted by the fire.
This letter, County Administrative Officer Carol Huchingson said, will also be shared with Senator Mike McGuire and Assemblymember Cecilia Aguiar-Curry who have played a significant role in the recovery efforts.
The idea came about after attending the Governor’s Office Recovery Summit in Sacramento last month, and since that time Huchingson has been working on developing the letter with them to send out.
“It was a very large meeting with all of the fire impacted counties there. A lot was discussed, and it was a good meeting, but it was obvious that the topic matter was really too broad for a meeting that was scheduled to last only two to three hours,” Huchingson said.
The letter will include not only Lake County but also Mendocino, Napa and Sonoma counties. Huchingson said that they would also be approving the letter to send to the governor as well.
“To make sure the potency of that discussion carries on, Supervisor Steele suggested to me that we take a regionalized approach,” Huchingson said. “With that hope that this would be a starting point for a more focused regional discussion for not only our recovery needs but our future prevention needs so this cycle of continued wildfires does not continue.”
The future meetings will consist of the four affected North Bay counties and state officials. The series of meetings will include some changes in state law, fast-tracking projects and will aim to provide funding for some repairs needed, not just fire recovery plans and prevention ideas.
District 3 Supervisor Jim Steele who has also attended these meetings in Sacramento with Huchingson said this is all part of the fire risk prevention that is looking at being implemented.
“What we’ve been doing is characterizing this as fire risk reduction. We have a huge risk just about everywhere we look even in the areas that have burned. They will come back with plants that will burn again even thicker than they did the first time. So we need to have a method in reducing that risk as we move forward not only in those areas but everywhere else,” Steele said.
This can include setbacks to cover the houses and also house hardening to not only protect a homeowner but their neighbors as well.
District 1 Supervisor Moke Simon said he would like the letter to include the removal of burned trees. Many of those trees still standing from previous fires have been an issue on both public and private properties.
“There’s a lot of trees left standing out there that are still coming down, and I think we’ve had at least five or 10 that have come down because of the recent rain,” Simon said. “This not only is a hazard but it also no appealing to the eye.”
He added that since it is an eyesore, it is preventing the county’s ability to be able to redevelop and attract new people to come and live in the county.
