Supervisors talk Park Fire recovery

OROVILLE — In all of the discussions of post-Park Fire recovery issues at Tuesday’s Butte County Board of Supervisors meeting, one thing was clear: there is still considerable work to do.

The board dedicated a large portion of its meeting on Tuesday to hearing updates on Park Fire recovery and repair efforts, hearing from its own departments as well as a representative from the California Governor’s Office of Emergency Services.

Deputy Administrative Officer Danielle Nuzum opened the presentation by summarizing the wildfire. Nuzum said the county is still waiting to hear back from the state of California on various requests relating to the recent local disasters.

“The Park Fire burned nearly 53,000 acres in Butte County and destroyed 428 structures and damaged many more in our communities of Cohasset and Forest Ranch,” Nuzum said. “As you’re aware, the county has asked for state and federal disaster assistance as well as private property debris removal program that would be state-led. We haven’t received answers on these requests yet but we have put up our Disaster Recovery Operations Center, or DROC, where many county departments and partner agencies are working on recovery specific to (the Park Fire).”

Like the many Butte County wildfires before it, the Park Fire’s effects on the community and the environment spread far beyond the initial blaze. Presentations were given on the various elements that make up fire recover and the challenges that potentially await.

Speakers included Assistant Director of Employment and Social Services Anna Lockman, Cal OES Program Manager Dominic Mezzatesta and Butte County Public Works Director Joshua Pack.

Debris removal

Burned vehicles, buildings and other structures still line roads near Cohasset and throughout the burn scar.

Removing debris is a step-by-step process and requires preliminary assessments of the properties. From there, it begins with the most hazardous materials.

“We’re in our second week of phase one of debris removal,” Lockman said. “That’s household hazardous waste. The process is being led by the Department of Toxic Substance Control. They estimate phase one will take five to six weeks and we’re in our second week now.”

Lockman said there have been 126 properties assessed so far, adding that residents can check the status of their properties by going to www.buttecounty.net/2021/Park-Fire.

“The county has two county reps accompanying the (the Department of Toxic Substance Control) crews that are out there,” Lockman said. “They have the re-entry packet and they also have information cards for the public.”

According to the county’s website, color-coded markings are being used to identify hazardous waste on and around properties. Colors represent the following:

• Pink paint: suspected asbestos-containing material.

• Orange paint: Septic systems or damaged transformers.

• Red Paint: Lithium batteries and other hazardous waste to be addressed.

• White X: Empty container or cylinder.

• White MT mark: Empty fuel tank.

Additionally, Cal OES will be using orange labeling to mark areas where protective measures will be placed such as straw wattles, compost socks and silt fences.

State role

Mezzatesta represented the California Governor’s Office of Emergency Services during the presentation and talked about some of the key focuses and concerns his department has in the wake of the fire.

A major focus of Mezzatesta’s presentation was mitigating further hazards that tend to spawn from wildfires.

“Our program runs tangentially to phase one of debris removal operations with the Department of Toxic Substance Control,” Mezzatesta said. “Every site is different. Every site presents its large and small challenges like lithium-ion batteries. Our approach is nested in that we want to take their work one step further. While they’re removing the really bad, nasty stuff like asbestos, we are coming in with work crews and implementing what we call emergency protective measures through a rapid assessment of each site.”

Mezzatesta said the goal of these measures is to keep toxic and hazardous materials from flowing downstream during rainfall and potentially into the water system and other communities.

“We utilize California Department of Water Resources flood fight engineers in the field to determine if a site meets our criteria,” Mezzatesta said. “Burned structures within 250 to 500 feet of a watercourse typically do meet our criteria. Structures that have an enormous amount of metals, toxins, burned structures and burned-out vehicles that are sloped downwards that have the potential to mobilize off bridges, off hills, that’s what we’re looking for.”

Other hazard mitigation

One of the common hazards posed by post-fire conditions is flooding. This was a major source of concern after the Camp Fire in 2018 when loosened ground and weak root systems had the potential to be washed away in large portions.

Pack said the plan to mitigate flooding after the Park Fire is based on previous instances within the county.

“We recognize that significant fires have the potential for significant debris flows,” Pack said.

Pack said his department is also focused on removing hazardous trees left behind by the fire.

“It’s a pretty narrow swath along county-maintained roads that we’re currently focusing on,” Pack said. “I utilized my emergency contract authority just shy of a month ago to enact a contract for tree removal for a maximum not to exceed $2 million.”

Later in the meeting, the board unanimously voted to ratify Pack’s emergency contract authority.

Pack said the next step in tree removal will be to deal with 160 stumps that have been identified.

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