Government officials offer comfort, safety tools to Glass fire victims
As firefighters continued to inch closer Wednesday toward full containment of the Glass fire, local and state officials discussed the road to recovery that lies ahead for hundreds of families dealing with damage and destruction left behind by the blaze in Sonoma County.
Sonoma County Board of Supervisors Chair Susan Gorin, whose Oakmont home was destroyed by the 2017 Tubbs fire, encouraged people who have lost their homes and businesses to ready themselves both emotionally and physically as they sift through the remains.
“Prepare yourself because not much has survived the heat of the fire,” Gorin said.
She was one of about 20 people who spoke Wednesday afternoon during a virtual town hall about the reentry and recovery process for the Glass fire, which had grown to 67,420 acres and 62% contained as of Wednesday evening.
The town hall was co-hosted by the city of Santa Rosa and Sonoma County.
Rep. Jared Huffman, D-San Rafael, said he and Rep. Mike Thompson, D-St. Helena, were waiting for the outcome of damage assessment reports to see if the destruction caused by the Glass fire would meet the threshold for a federal disaster declaration.
If it does, paperwork to make that request to the federal government is ready to be submitted, Thompson said during the town hall, adding that if approved, the declaration would trigger additional federal aid such as federal unemployment insurance and low-interest loans to cover destroyed items not covered by insurers.
“Your community is going to be working for you after the fire is put out, too,” Huffman said. “For those who have lost homes and suffered damages and businesses that have suffered terrible impacts, we’re going to be with you for the long haul.”
Firefighters’ efforts brought containment up another 4 percentage points over the course of the day and limited growth of the fire’s perimeter to just 220 acres.
The tally of homes destroyed in the fire rose slightly to 327 single- and multi-family homes in Sonoma County and 307 homes in Napa County.
Fire crews continued to work with utility and Caltrans workers to make the area safe for residents’ return, with a high concentration of work being done along Calistoga Road off St. Helena Road and the nearby Erland Road, Cal Fire Division Chief Ben Nicholls said during the town hall.
“Crews are making great progress out there, continuing to hunt out those hot spots ... well inside the perimeter of the fire so we can get folks home as soon as possible,” Nicholls said.
Tony Cignarale, deputy commissioner for the California Department of Insurance, encouraged residents impacted by the Glass fire to go to the local assistance center at Maria Carrillo High School in Santa Rosa for information about the insurance claim process or the state insurance department’s website. The center is open 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. daily through Oct. 14.
In addition to the reentry and recovery talks, the city and county opened three drive-thru supply stations Wednesday afternoon for residents returning to properties scorched by the Glass fire.
The stations, located at Maria Carrillo High School, Skyhawk Park north of Spring Lake Park and Sonoma Valley Regional Park, were stocked with masks, gloves, goggles and other equipment for residents taking stock of the damage.
The reentry stations at Maria Carrillo High School and Sonoma Valley Regional Park will remain open through Monday from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. The support drive-thru at Skyhawk Park is open from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. and will run until Thursday.
Staff will verify residents’ addresses at the stations. Residents whose properties are still under an evacuation order will need to wait until those are downgraded before they can return home, officials said.
All remaining evacuation orders in Santa Rosa were downgraded to warnings Wednesday afternoon. In the county, 1,097 residents remained under evacuation orders and another 2,175 were warned that they needed to be prepared to leave, Sonoma County Sgt. Juan Valencia said.
As of Wednesday’s briefing, about 85% of the building damage assessments within the fire’s perimeter were completed and the remaining were expected to be done by the end of the day Wednesday or Thursday.
Sonoma County officials anticipate sharing initial damage assessment information about the fire’s impact on the county’s unincorporated jurisdiction by Thursday morning, Sonoma County spokesman Paul Gullixson said during Wednesday’s town hall.
Damage assessment teams in Santa Rosa located only 30 destroyed buildings, mostly homes, indicating that the majority of the damage in Sonoma County from the Glass fire was outside city limits.
Cooler and more humid conditions will continue through the week as a marine layer moves in from the coast, potentially aiding firefighting efforts.
National Weather Service meteorologist Steve Anderson said there’s a roughly 30% chance of about a quarter-inch of rain in Sonoma and Napa counties sometime this weekend.
“Unfortunately, the computer models have been trending drier for the past two model runs,” he said. “There’s a chance (the North Bay) will get some measurable rain, but it won’t be a whole lot.”
By Sunday, temperatures should return to normal seasonal highs in the 80s, Anderson said.
Fire engines that traveled long distances to fight the Glass fire have been allowed to return home, Cal Fire spokesman Deputy Chief Jonathan Cox said.
Just over 2,300 personnel were assigned to the Glass fire as of Wednesday afternoon, a drop of about 200 people from Wednesday morning, Cal Fire said.
By: Nashelly Chavez AND Ethan Varian
Source: Press Democrat
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