'Too much bureaucracy': Del Puerto Canyon fire victims seek aid, answers in aftermath

Nov. 2--Two months after wildfires ignited in Del Puerto Canyon, western Stanislaus County residents are struggling to find guidance on the recovery process ranging from debris removal to financial aid options.

About 30 people attended a workshop at Frank Raines Park on Thursday, raising their concerns about navigating assistance requirements to county agency representatives who provided recovery resources and updates.

Explaining how the SCU Lightning Complex burned telephone lines, Del Puerto Canyon resident Victoria Rios said instructions to call agencies with further questions were unhelpful. Rios never had cell reception on her property, lacks access to internet and, outside of when she evacuated for 10 days, has lived without phone service since Aug. 17. It will likely take another month to restore phone service, Rios said the utility told her, and driving to Patterson takes 30 minutes.

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."

Stanislaus County tries to reach aid requirements

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 Federal Emergency Management Agency because the federal disaster declaration for California wildfires does not list Stanislaus County. To qualify, the county needs to reach a threshold of about $2 million in private and public damages, said Richard Murdock, the county's assistant director of emergency services.

The SCU Lightning Complex burned nearly 397,000 acres in six counties, Cal Fire reported, and of those, only Santa Clara County currently qualifies for FEMA grants for individuals. The fires destroyed 222 structures and damaged an additional 26 before firefighters contained them Oct. 1, six weeks after they first ignited Aug. 18. Stanislaus County accounted for about 185,000 burned acres by the end of August, according to a preliminary damage estimate by the University of California Cooperative Extension.

Del Puerto Canyon residents will receive state assistance, Murdock said, but his office needs to document losses regardless of whether they were insured and submit them to the California Office of Emergency Services.

"CalOES has been helping us a lot to communicate to FEMA in order to make sure we fill out the documents correctly to get what you deserve based upon the losses of this fire," Murdock said. "It's extremely frustrating to go through this process, but we know that there's California Disaster Assistance Act money: 75% from the state, 25% from the county for reimbursement. FEMA is what we're working on right now to make sure that we can get you on the declaration."

Even so, the qualification status difference between Stanislaus and Santa Clara counties prompted some residents to shout frustrations about CalFire's firefighting efforts in the areas. Barbara Kepley-Keeney, who previously told The Bee that firefighters could have saved her home, protested Murdock's explanation that CalFire likely directed resources to more populated areas during the historic fire season.

"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 CalFire so survivors can ask direct questions, but then redirected attention to debris removal steps.

Residents express toxic debris concerns

Residents can expect two phases for assessing wildfire debris, emergency manager Shannon Williams said. At no upfront cost to residents, Williams said the state will first look for household hazardous waste, then assess other structural and property debris. Landowners can schedule appointments so they will not have to leave their properties open and vulnerable to looters for indefinite amounts of time, she added.

With the natural springs at her property, Jeanice James described concerns of burned buildings contaminating surface water that feeds into a creek running through Del Puerto Canyon. The wildfire destroyed the adobe house built in the 1800s and structures from a magnesium mine in the 1920s -- including two workshops and barns -- on her land. Water currently runs across the burned area before entering the creek, James said, noting that the rainy season is approaching.

"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 Natural Resources Conservation Service of the U.S. Department of Agriculture gave her guidelines on how to prevent contaminants from leaving the property, but could not give her funding to remove them. Other antiques such as fuses from World War II also burned, James said, so the ash is toxic. James does not expect to rebuild soon because of the process of removing the debris and said she is currently living in Patterson.

Other residents asked what to do with water wells contaminated by ash and soot now turning into lye. Mary-Kate Cook of the county Department of Environmental Resources advised them to call their water pump companies to evaluate their wells and water sources, such as ponds. The fire may have damaged metal casings in well structures, so Cook told residents to list them on loss forms.

Burn association may help, adviser says

Forming a local burn association may prevent future fires from burning at the scale of the SCU Lightning Complex, said Theresa Becchetti, a livestock and natural resource adviser for the UC Cooperative Extension in Stanislaus and San Joaquin counties. The associations made up of private property owners conduct controlled burns, said Becchetti, who presented ranching information at the workshop.

"They would have to work with CalFire and the Air Quality Control Board for permitting, but they would do the fire themselves, whether they hire a burn boss or do it themselves," Becchetti said. "Issues that would have to be worked out are liability, insurance and funding. But there are some that have restarted back up again and are actually doing small burns and some that are starting to form now up and down the state."

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 CalFire could also improve communication and coordination during future fires, she said. CalFire crews often come from out of the area and aren't familiar with the terrain or roads, she said, adding that she knows of a rancher who worked with the agency to develop maps after the Butte Fire in 2015.

Whenever the requested meeting between CalFire and Del Puerto Canyon landowners occurs, property owner Paul Dossche said he wants the county to give notice. He only found out about the workshop Thursday from a neighbor, he said.

"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?"

___

(c)2020 The Modesto Bee (Modesto, Calif.)

Visit The Modesto Bee (Modesto, Calif.) at www.modbee.com

Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.