'Too much bureaucracy': Del Puerto Canyon fire victims seek aid, answers in aftermath
About 30 people attended a workshop at
Explaining how the
The wildfire destroyed her horse barn, outbuildings, vehicles, generators, solar panels and log splitters, Rios said, reducing her property to a place to sleep. She already paid for replacement water tanks and pipes, adding that she could not rely on agencies and filling out forms.
"There's too much bureaucracy," Rios said. "There's too much 'Apply for this, apply for that, we need lists, we need this, we need that, so that we can help you in the right direction to ask somebody else to get it done.' There's too many middlemen."
In an effort to qualify for federal assistance, county officials asked workshop attendees to report wildfire losses on a form and share it with neighbors. Residents currently cannot receive aid from the
"CalOES has been helping us a lot to communicate to
Even so, the qualification status difference between
"You can't say let this burn and keep that over there because they've got more money," Kepley-Keeney said during the workshop. "That is discrimination."
Murdock promised attendees he would try to arrange a meeting with
Residents express toxic debris concerns
Residents can expect two phases for assessing wildfire debris, emergency manager
With the natural springs at her property,
"Even though our springs are flowing a lot stronger now because there aren't plants to suck that water up because they all burned, the concern is where is that water going," James said. "Who's going to be using that water? What's it going to have in it?"
The
Other residents asked what to do with water wells contaminated by ash and soot now turning into lye.
Burn association may help, adviser says
Forming a local burn association may prevent future fires from burning at the scale of the
"They would have to work with
Controlled burns can help control the brush, Bechetti said, and reduce available fuel to prepare for the next time lightning ignites a wildfire. While Bechetti said she can help coordinate a burn association, she said locals should run it for better results.
Residents building a closer relationship with
Whenever the requested meeting between
"We send our tax bills in, so it's not like they don't have our names and addresses to send us notification," Dossche said. "We have computers, isn't that what that's for now?"
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