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LAKE COUNTY, Calif. – Two weeks after the historically destructive Valley fire started, Lake County fire survivors are starting down what, for many, may be a long road to recovery.
To help, Lake County and dozens of organizations are poised to provide immediate and ongoing resources to make recovery easier.
Access restrictions for all roads were lifted on Saturday after 5 p.m.
As people reenter their communities, Lake County wants to remind residents to proceed with extreme caution. Safety is the first priority, and many hazards still exist. Tips for re-entering your property safely can be found at http://www.lakecountylac.com/safety.html .
The following key resources are available to assist fire survivors.
The Federal Emergency Management Agency, FEMA, is in Lake County assisting residents impacted by the Valley fire.
Register at 1-800-621-FEMA (3362), visit www.disasterassistance.gov or go to the Local Assistance Center in Middletown.
The Local Assistance Center, or LAC, has more than 25 companies and agencies representing local, state and federal government and non-profit resources available to answer questions and assist with rebuilding, debris removal, housing, and the replacement of vital records and basic needs.
The LAC is located at the Middletown Senior Center at 21256 Washington St. seven days a week until further notice.
Mental health needs: When disaster strikes, people react with increased anxiety, worry and anger. With community and family support, some of us bounce back. Others may need extra assistance.
If you are having trouble coping, trained counselors are available to help you 24 hours a day. For phone numbers and other resources visit http://www.lakecountylac.com/mental-health-support.html .
Temporary housing: A shelter phone line has been established to assist people with locating temporary housing. Call 707-262-1090 between the hours of 8 a.m. and 5 p.m. to request assistance.
Debris removal: Free debris removal is available through the Environmental Health Department. Sign up to receive assistance through the LAC or contact Environmental Health at 707-263-1164.
For the latest news and information from the Emergency Operation Center, please visit www.lakecountylac.com or Lake County OES’s social media sites.
FINLEY, Calif. – The 26th annual Vineyard Run for Literacy will take place on Sunday, Oct. 11, in conjunction with the annual Steele Wines Harvest Festival.
Race participants can choose to compete in either a 5K or 10K run or a 5K walk. Online registration is available at: https://runsignup.com/Race/CA/Kelseyville/VRFL .
On-site registration begins at 8 a.m. at Steele Wines, located at the corner of Highway 29 and Thomas Drive, south of Finley. The race begins at 9 a.m.
Early registration deadline is Oct. 5. The cost for adults is $15; ages 6 to 18, $5; and age 5 and under are free.
Registration from Oct. 6 through race day costs $25 for adults, $10 for ages 6 to 18; and age 5 and under are free. Race T-shirts are available for $15.
All proceeds from the event go to the Lake County Literacy Coalition, a nonprofit organization dedicated to promoting reading and writing skills in the community and to support literacy tutoring activities throughout Lake County.
The coalition purchases books and supplies and provides tutor training and workshops. The families program provides books for children under the age of 6 so that the parents can read to their children and break the cycle of illiteracy.
The Vineyard Run for Literacy is a great opportunity to get outdoors and enjoy the autumn weather amid the agricultural beauty of Finley.
Encourage coworkers, friends and family members to make donations to sponsor your walk/run. Bring $100 in sponsor contributions on race day and your registration fee is waived.
Sponsor sheets are available at Lake County Library, online at http://rdysetgo.com/vineyard-run-for-literacy-10-11-15.html or by calling 707-263-7633.
Registration forms are available at all branches of the Lake County Library, the Lakeport Regional Chamber of Commerce, West America Bank and Lake County Visitor Information Center as well as at Steele Wines on the morning of the run.
Winners in each category receive both ribbons and prizes. Additionally all participants are entered in a drawing for prizes donated by local merchants.
For additional information write
NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity is conducting a “walkabout” survey of “Marathon Valley,” where the rover's operators plan to use the vehicle through the upcoming Martian winter, and beyond, to study the context for outcrops bearing clay minerals.
Marathon Valley slices downhill from west to east for about 300 yards or meters through the western rim of Endeavour Crater.
Opportunity has been investigating rock targets in the western portion of the valley since late July, working its way eastward in a thorough reconnaissance of the area.
The rover's panoramic camera has captured a scene dominated by a summit called “Hinners Point,” forming part of the valley's northern edge. The image, show above, also shows a portion of the valley floor with swirling reddish zones that have been a target for study.
For several months starting in mid- to late October, the rover team plans to operate Opportunity on the southern side of the valley to take advantage of the sun-facing slope. The site is in Mars' southern hemisphere, so the sun is to the north during fall and winter days.
Tilting the rover toward the sun increases power output from its solar panels. The shortest-daylight period of this seventh Martian winter for Opportunity will come in January 2016.
“Our expectation is that Opportunity will be able to remain mobile through the winter,” said Mars Exploration Rover Project Manager John Callas of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, California.
The walkabout is identifying investigation targets in and near the valley floor. Rocks in reddish zones there contain more silica and less iron than most rocks in the area.
“We have detective work to do in Marathon Valley for many months ahead,” said Opportunity Deputy Principal Investigator Ray Arvidson, of Washington University in St. Louis. “During the Martian late fall and winter seasons Opportunity will conduct its measurements and traverses on the southern side of the valley. When spring arrives the rover will return to the valley floor for detailed measurements of outcrops that may host the clay minerals.”
Endeavour Crater spans about 14 miles in diameter. Opportunity has been studying its western rim since 2011.
Marathon Valley became a high priority destination after a concentration of clay minerals called smectites was mapped there based on observations by the Compact Reconnaissance Imaging Spectrometer for Mars aboard NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter. Smectites form under wetter, milder conditions than most rocks at the Opportunity site. Opportunity is investigating relationships among clay-bearing and neighboring deposits for clues about the history of environmental changes.
The rover team has been dealing for more than a year with Opportunity's tendency to undergo unplanned computer resets when using the type of onboard memory that retains information when power is off: flash memory.
For three months until mid-September, operators fully avoided use of flash memory. In this mode, images and other data cannot be stored overnight, when the rover is powered off to conserve energy. To gain operational flexibility in a trade-off with possible “lost” days from resets, the team has resumed occasional use of flash memory.
NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Project landed twin rovers Spirit and Opportunity on Mars in 2004 to begin missions planned to last three months. Both rovers far exceeded those plans. Spirit worked for six years, and Opportunity is still active. Findings about ancient wet environments on Mars have come from both rovers.
The project is one element of NASA's ongoing and future Mars missions preparing for a human mission to the planet in the 2030s.
MIDDLETOWN, Calif. – After a two-week closure due to the Valley fire, Middletown Unified School District's schools will reopen on Monday.
“The schools are now physically ready to open,” Lake County Superintendent of Schools Brock Falkenberg told Lake County News.
“All of the primary school sites survived,” said Falkenberg.
The district overall survived with minimal serious damage, a fact that Falkenberg himself confirmed in the initial days after the fire, when he toured the school sites to see how they had fared.
Falkenberg said the only district facilities that burned in the fire were a portable building that housed the Loconoma Valley High School classroom and a maintenance facility next door that were located near the high school football field on the back side of the school.
He said an inspector has gone through the south county facilities and determined there was no structural damage, but extensive cleaning has been required to ensure the facilities are safe. A contractor has been carrying out that work for the last week.
The opening of school for the new school year – which took place Aug. 18 – had been delayed by a week in the Middletown District and three days in the Konocti Unified School District in large part due to use of the facilities for evacuation centers and a Red Cross command center because of the Rocky fire, Falkenberg said.
This time, however, school was interrupted due to the Valley fire burning through Middletown.
Falkenberg said he's not aware of a previous event that impacted local schools this significantly.
Catherine Stone took over as the new Middletown Unified superintendent July 1, just weeks before the Rocky fire – the first of Lake County's devastating wildfire trio – began.
Stone has had the task of getting district facilities ready to receive students once again as the third and most devastating fire winds down.
“I think we have finalized things,” she said Friday afternoon.
The Lake County Office of Education has been “tremendously helpful” to Middletown Unified, Stone said, adding that they have offered assistance and outreach, and provided office space for some district staffers. That included the district payroll employee who needed to get paychecks out to employees.
While it didn't burn, Cobb Elementary School had some damage from infiltration of smoke, soot and ash, she said.
Because of the school's peaked roofs, Stone said ash and soot concentrated in the attics, which will need to be thoroughly cleaned in order to make it safe for students, faculty and staff. Other repairs will include replacement of ceiling tiles, cleaning carpets and all surfaces, and using air purifiers.
While it originally had looked like it could take up to two months to get the school facility ready to reopen, Stone said Friday that time frame could be shortened thanks to the rapid cleanup that the school's contractor has carried out elsewhere in the district.
In the meantime, Cobb Elementary will operate out of portables on the back side of the middle school on the Middletown Unified campus on Big Canyon Road.
She said the Loconoma Valley High School program will start up again in Room 1 at Middletown High School while rebuilding takes place.
Even before the Federal Emergency Management Agency came to Lake County, it contacted Stone to find out about damages, she said.
She said she walked FEMA officials around the facilities to give them an idea of the situation. However, she said the district has very good insurance so she doesn't think the federal assistance will apply for the most part.
All of the school sites that will reopen on Monday have had in-depth cleanup, Stone said.
On Friday afternoon, she got word from the contractor that the district will be able to use the high school gym starting on Monday, less of a wait than anticipated. “We thought it was going to be two weeks,” she said.
It also means that Cobb Elementary could be back up earlier, too, she said.
“The contractor we have has been incredibly efficient,” bringing in a huge crew to clean the school facilities, said Stone.
In the gym, the contractor put down thick plywood to protect the floors so scissor lifts could be used to reach the ceiling, the beams and walls. Stone said everything has been cleaned – from the ceiling down to the bleachers and floor.
Stone guessed the gym hasn't been cleaned so thoroughly since it was built, adding, “We've got a squeaky clean campus everywhere.”
All of the facilities have been cleaned with HEPA vacuums and wiped down with a special solution that will remove soot and ash, she said.
Stone said the well and sewer system is back up for the main campuses, but the lift station for the sewer at the Middletown High School football field is still offline and being repaired.
The first home high school game for the football team is set for Oct. 9. “We'll be ready by then,” Stone said.
On Monday there may still be some existing issues with phones, which were not working late Friday after some technical problems, Stone said.
She reported that AT&T placed an emergency communication satellite and generator on the Cobb field while lines are repaired so the community has 911 access.
The district's buses also are fine after having been checked out, and will be on the road Monday to pick up students, Stone said.
The updated schedule is posted on the district's Web site at http://www.middletownusd.org/transportation-2 .
The district's bus service will run up into the Kelseyville and Konocti districts, where many students are now staying since being displaced, she said.
Stone said Konocti Unified is doing a bus run for Middletown Unified, and will pick up students and bring them to the schools each morning, with Middletown returning them in the afternoons.
“It's really generous of Konocti to do that for us,” she said.
Due to the expenses for the expanded bus coverage, Stone said she is considering asking if that is one area where FEMA could offer financial help.
Stone said that while the district has had quite a few reports of students who are displaced, it doesn't yet have a definitive count, adding it will be a “wait and see” situation.
“I'm sure the first couple of weeks, it's going to be a bit in flux,” she said.
As for the impact of missed school days on the district, whether additional time will need to be added at year's end remains to be seen, according to Stone.
“I think the state will give us a waiver for those days,” she said, adding that trying to make up the days may create more hardships for families.
She said she contacted state officials on Friday to begin the process of seeking an emergency waiver for the time that's been lost due to wildland fire, adding she believed the district should stick to the schedule for the remainder of the year.
Falkenberg said once school reopens, they will have mental health professionals on campus to help students and staff who are adjusting to life after the fire.
He said the Valley fire has impacted staff and teachers serving in school districts around the county.
More than 30 Middletown Unified employees have been impacted by the Valley fire, Falkenberg said, along with nine from Konocti Unified; four from the Lake County Office of Education, including three preschool teachers and a school secretary; three from Kelseyville; and one from Upper Elementary.
Email Elizabeth Larson at
LAKEPORT, Calif. – Sutter Lakeside Hospital has partnered with Sutter Health and North Coast Opportunities by donating $25,000 to provide support and relief to the victims of the Valley fire.
Sutter Health’s donation to NCO will go directly to Lake County wildfire victims through NCO’s Lake County Wildfire Relief Fund.
The Lake County Wildfire Relief Fund has raised more than $300,000 to date to help meet the significant needs of those whose homes have been ravaged by the fire.
The goal of the partnership is to assist with needs such as insurance deductibles, short-term living expenses and general out-of-pocket expenses that accompany displacement.
Besides a small PayPal fee, 100-percent of proceeds directly aid victims; NCO donates all staff time and administrative fees.
“Sutter Lakeside Hospital’s mission is to enhance the well-being of people in the communities we serve. During emergency situations, we are proud to partner with initiatives that provide relief beyond the walls of our hospital,” said Siri Nelson, chief administrative officer of Sutter Lakeside Hospital. “It is through collaboration and partnership that we are at our strongest. I have never been more proud to serve Lake County.”
NCO is a well-established non-profit that primarily serves Lake and Mendocino counties by providing programs such as Foster Grandparents, Rural Community Child Care, the Clearlake Food Pantry, Head Start Child Development and Redwood Caregivers Resource Center, as well as numerous local food projects like Farm-to-School and a Food Hub.
During the Rocky and Jerusalem fires, NCO set up an account for fire victims to provide financial assistance for people in need.
The organization distributed more than $24,000 to Rocky and Jerusalem fire victims and anticipates greater need for Valley Fire victims.
“We continue to receive applications for relief funds on a daily basis and see no end to the need. Donations like this from Sutter mean more people will get meaningful help during this terrible time,” said Carolyn Welch, NCO’s chief financial officer and member of the fund committee. “We hope we speak for the community when we say we are so very grateful for the support and generosity.”
For more information or to donate, visit www.ncoinc.org .
LAKEPORT, Calif. – For the first time in decades, Lake County will have a legislative district office to assist residents with statewide issues and work collaboratively as active partners with county and city officials throughout Lake County.
Both state Sen. Mike McGuire and Assemblyman Bill Dodd, who represent Lake County in the state Legislature, made a commitment to open up a local office to ensure residents receive the services they need to thrive.
“Lake County is a top priority for both of us, and Sen. McGuire and I are following through with a commitment we made to the residents of Lake County. We're excited to be opening up our joint district office on Tuesday. We're grateful for the County providing us the office space, and we look forward to everything we can accomplish in Lake County in the years to come,” Dodd said.
“Assemblymember Dodd and I promised to be active and engaged in Lake County and we are following through on that promise, working hard for Lake every day. It has been a difficult past few months for the County with the Rocky and Jerusalem Fires and now the Valley Fire – but we are here for the long haul to ensure the amazing people of Lake can rebuild and thrive in the years to come,”
McGuire said.
The State Senate and Assembly are partnering to open up a joint district office, located in Lakeport at 885 Lakeport Blvd., next door to the Lake County Department of Agriculture office and below the Lake County Chamber of Commerce's Vista Point location.
At the grand opening – which will be held from 5 to 6:30 p.m. Tuesday, Sept. 29 – Dodd and McGuire will focus their remarks on the coordinated recovery efforts related to the devastating Valley fire as well as important legislative issues.
County, state and federal officials will also be on hand to discuss and provide updates on recovery efforts in the weeks and months to come.
The event is free and residents are encouraged to attend. There will be a hot dog barbecue, along with other treats and refreshments.