Ventura County homeowners begin long road to Thomas Fire recovery
Then they saw the blaze.
"We went into town on
Neither the Auric brothers, whose family has owned the property since 1978, nor any the 12 tenants they leased the property's cabins to died in the Thomas Fire, although their homes did not escape the inferno unscathed. Today, most of the property's cabins are uninhabitable and the area is littered with debris and destroyed cars.
While the brothers are spending much of their free time cleaning the area and working toward recovery, Cory noted it would likely take five to 10 years to fully rebuild their rural property.
Beyond the Auric brothers' property, the Thomas Fire burned for 40 days and consumed 281,893 acres in
Read more:Downtown Ventura's businesses look to bounce back from
Rebuilding can be a costly and time-consuming process, even for those with homeowners insurance. Though county and state officials are working with homeowners on cleanup and recovery it will likely take several years before the first wave of residents rebuild and reoccupy their homes, said Supervisor
Bennett anticipated the Thomas Fire recovery would be faster than
"There are 700 homes to clean up and everybody wants to know when their property is going to get cleaned up," Bennet said. "(Recovery teams) aren't going to lay out a schedule because they have to have the flexibility to move resources where they think they can do the most good. Some of the more fortunate people will probably be taking occupancy two years from now."
Regardless of the time and money involved, all newly-built homes, reconstructed or otherwise, are required to conform to modern building codes for safety reasons. For older structures, that means it may be impossible to rebuild homes as they were.
Although most residents are aware of building code requirements, the cost of reconstruction is catching some people off guard, said
"The building codes are updated to reflect new and better engineering information, such as relating to earthquakes or energy efficiency," Stephens said. "Most code things people have heard about, such as double-paned windows or new structural requirements to withstand earthquakes. Most building code things are not surprising (but) the cost of construction is higher than some people were anticipating."
Parts of the Auric brothers' property were spared from the Thomas Fire, but Mathew anticipated reconstruction costs would be significant.
"Four of our cabins and a two-story duplex burned to the ground," Mathew, 37, said. "Going off typical construction costs, you're talking about
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Even as recovery continues, some residents are wary of potential future disasters. Cory noted that many of the hills on his property were charred in the Thomas Fire and the area would be further devastated if a mudslide were to hit the area. The recent mudslides in the
Bennett noted he had received many concerns about mudslides after the Thomas Fire and a series of debris flow safety meetings has been set up this week. Bennett advised residents impacted by the Thomas Fire to visit http://venturacountyrecovers.org/ to learn about available resources.
One of the primary sources of available government assistance comes from the
Read more:FEMA opens disaster assistance center in
People impacted by the Thomas Fire should visit the
"We had 889
The deadline for
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