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During Child Support Awareness Month, the California Department of Child Support Services (DCSS) reminds parents to meet their responsibility to provide financial and medical support for their children.
DCSS’ efforts to collect child support payments continued to grow last year to the benefit of families across California.
“We’ve seen an increase in our ability to collect and parents’ ability to pay their child support,” said Kathleen Hrepich, interim director of DCSS. “We are pleased to be moving in the right direction, as we work hard to provide even more children with the support they need.”
California’s child support collections increased by $37 million in the state fiscal year ending in June 2011, with the total distributed collections at $2.3 billion.
Of that, $1.8 billion was distributed directly to families, and $500 million was distributed to the state and federal government for recoupment of public assistance and foster care expenses. Figures for the state fiscal year ending in 2012 will soon be available.
The focus of Child Support Awareness Month 2012 is the vital role parents play in providing a positive environment for their children.
The theme this year is, “Child support provides security, instills confidence, maintains trust, and helps to make childhood dreams come true.”
During the month of August, parents who are past due on their child support payments are encouraged to drop by their local child support agency to make a payment, modify their child support order, obtain a repayment plan, and/or find out whether they qualify for a compromise on the overdue balance.
Child support services are available to the public through a network of 51 county and regional child support agencies, and the Child Support Program serves 1.4 million children and their families.
County and state child support professionals work together so that children in the system can rely on their parents for the financial and medical support they need to be healthy and successful.
Learn more a online at http://www.childsup.ca.gov/Home/ChildSupportAwarenessMonth.aspx .
MIDDLETOWN, Calif. – The Lake County Sheriff’s Office on Tuesday released surveillance photographs from a July burglary at a Middletown bank and asked for the public’s help in identifying the suspects.
The photos are from a burglary that occurred on Monday, July 23, said sheriff’s Sgt. Steve Brooks.
Shortly after 8 a.m. that day sheriff’s deputies responded to the report of a burglary at Tri Counties Bank, 21097 Calistoga Road, he said.
Based on the investigation, the suspects were able to enter the bank and compromise the ATM located inside the building, according to Brooks.
He said detectives were able to obtain surveillance photographs and are asking the public’s assistance in identifying the individuals they believe are responsible for the burglary.
If anyone has information regarding these suspects, please contact the Lake County Sheriff’s Major Crimes Unit at 707-263-2690.
CLEARLAKE OAKS, Calif. – The massive, multiagency effort to put out two major wildland fires east of Clearlake Oaks continued on Monday, with an incident command center set up at the county fairgrounds and hundreds of evacuees allowed to return home after leaving their residences Sunday.
Hundreds of firefighters from agencies around Northern California were at work on the Wye and Walker fires, which Cal Fire combined into the Wye Fire Complex on Monday.
The fires began minutes apart on Sunday afternoon. The Wye was located near the intersection of Highway 20 and Highway 53, with the Walker Fire located close to Walker Ridge Road, the scene of a 2008 fire that burned 14,500 acres.
By nightfall, the Wye Complex had scorched another 1,000 acres, for a 6,000-acre total, with 25-percent containment, Cal Fire said. No cause has yet been given.
The California Emergency Management Agency reported Monday that the state had secured federal funds to assist with the firefighting effort.
Also on Monday Cal Fire Incident Management Team 4 assumed command of the incident.
That morning the team set up its incident command center at the Lake County Fairgrounds on Martin Street in Lakeport.
They were setting up tents, coordinating resources and organizing the complex effort of containing and extinguishing a wildland fire complex.
Due to the incident command center’s presence, Lakeport Speedway’s weekend races were postponed.
A stark landscape
Lake County News and other media were allowed access into the fire area on Monday.
Highway 20 east of Highway 53 – which at that time was still closed to the public, with only firefighters moving along it – was lined by a blackened landscape, punctuated by the silhouettes of charred trees.
Dust devils spun columns of ash on the stripped hillsides.
In one area along the highway, several vehicles had burned near a residence. A number of stretches of guardrail were burned, with the metal rails missing and scorched uprights remaining. Some highway signs were damaged; a two-legged sign remained standing with one of its uprights partially missing.
In another spot, melted utility wires sagged down from burned poles. Cal Fire said that both power transmission lines and fiber optic cables had been threatened in the fire.
Some of the 358 firefighters assigned to the complex were staging near the Landrum Ranch along Highway 20 Monday afternoon.
Two helicopters – one from Cal Fire plus a Black Hawk – were dropping buckets into a pond and making water drops on a ridge above the highway. They then made their way over to Spring Valley to make drops there.
A VLAT – very large air tanker – also was brought in to drop retardant, according to officials.
On the ground, some of the fire agencies that had sent resources and were present at the staging area included Cal Fire, Northshore Fire, Windsor, Healdsburg, Rincon, Geyserville, Sacramento Metropolitan, Truckee, Contra Costa and Calistoga.
Major developments during the day included the evening opening of Highway 20 – which had been opened and closed again on Monday morning while firefighting operations continued – and an evacuation order for the Spring Valley community was lifted by nightfall.
Standing their ground
Spring Valley residents had been under a mandatory evacuation order since Sunday evening, with 480 structures threatened.
California Highway Patrol and Lake County Sheriff’s deputies assisted with the evacuations, according to Sgt. Steve Brooks of the Lake County Sheriff’s Office.
As deputies were evacuating residents, the fire was burning on both sides of the road, Brooks said. He said the day shift deputies were held over and the night shift was called in early to assist.
CHP and sheriff’s deputies maintained a presence at the entrance to New Long Valley Road on Monday in order to prevent unauthorized individuals from going into the valley.
Many of the residents had gone to a Red Cross shelter set up at the Highlands Senior Center in Clearlake.
However, not everyone left.
A trip to the Spring Valley Pantry, the community’s store, revealed a little group of holdouts who decided it was better to stay put than risk leaving, despite bits of falling ash from the fires.
One of them was Mike Anderson, a 17-year Spring Valley resident.
“At one point it was blowing right at us,” he said of the Wye Fire.
However, the wind shifted, and Anderson and others felt safe enough to stay. He estimated 20 percent of the valley’s residents remained at home, some of them concerned about thefts.
Anderson lived in the valley the last time it was evacuated – during the 1996 Fork Fire, which burned more than 83,000 acres on the Mendocino National Forest.
He said he didn’t leave then, either, and he felt more threatened by the Fork than the Wye.
Anderson’s wife, however, had gone to Clearlake to run errands on Sunday and hadn’t been allowed to return.
Lake County Animal Care and Control Director Bill Davidson and his staff stopped at the store to wait for community members who were being allowed in, three at a time, to remove pets and livestock or to feed the animals.
He and his staff had worked to evacuate animals on Sunday and then on Monday began transitioning to the work with residents.
By about 4 p.m. Monday, he estimated that more than 30 residents had come in to be escorted to their homes, where they had 15 minutes to gather their animals and anything else that they needed immediately.
At that point, Davidson said he had no idea how long they were to continue with the evacuations.
Several miles down the highway at the Clearlake Oaks Moose Lodge, dozens of people, their pets and livestock were staged, waiting for a change in conditions.
Some went inside where there was air conditioning, cold water and snacks, and a big screen television. There also were large amounts of donated food from local businesses to help feed the evacuees.
At around 6 p.m., Highway 20 was reopened to single-lane traffic led by a CHP pilot car.
Brooks said the traffic control measures were implemented due to hazards such as trees that had fallen across the highway and which had not been completely removed, and smoke that was causing visibility problems.
An hour after the highway was reopened, Cal Fire announced that evacuations for Spring Valley – including Old Long Valley Road and New Long Valley Road – had been lifted, with residents able to return after 8 p.m.
Making progress on the incident
Cal Fire said firefighters made progress on the fire Monday, despite challenges that included extreme fire behavior, difficult terrain, spotting conditions, low reality humidity and the very high summertime temperatures.
Firefighters carried out a successful firing operation, with crews continuing to build fire containment lines and provide structure protection, Cal Fire reported. Hot temperatures and peak electrical demands were putting a strain on the current power capacity.
Reports from the scene on Monday night indicated a very active, challenging fire situation, with the fire crossing over Bear Valley Road and across Bear Canyon.
Due to fire conditions and firefighter safety, Cal Fire said hunting has been restricted 10 miles north and south of Highway 20, between Highway 53 and Highway 16.
In other fire-related news, Lake County Air Quality Management District reported that air quality conditions were expected to be unhealthy again on Tuesday due to the smoke from the fire, which was creating a haze in the air basin.
Email Elizabeth Larson at
LAKE COUNTY, Calif. – The Federal Aviation Administration has issued a temporary flight restriction for the airspace east of Clearlake and Clearlake Oaks due to aircraft operations being used to fight the Wye Complex.
The restriction, issued Monday, is in effect until further notice, the FAA said.
The map above shows the restriction area in red. The altitude is from the surface up to and including 10,000 feet mean sea level.
The FAA said the restriction is meant to provide a safe environment for firefighting aircraft operations.
For details and the exact coordinates of the restricted area see http://tfr.faa.gov/save_pages/detail_2_7022.html .
LAKE COUNTY, Calif. – In response to two large wildland fires burning near Clearlake Oaks, county officials released a list of resources to help community members and visitors get information and assistance.
The Wye and Walker fires – now under the Wye Complex – began Sunday east of Clearlake Oaks.
Residents and visitors are encouraged to consider the following resources.
Updated wildfire information
For the latest information on the wildfires, including evacuation orders, visit the Cal Fire Web site at http://cdfdata.fire.ca.gov/incidents/incidents_current or call 707-967-4207.
Road closure information
For highway closure information, call the Caltrans Highway Information Service at 800-427-7623.
Electrical service
To report an electrical outage or hazardous situation, call PG&E at 800-PGE-5002. PG&E cautions that any downed power line should be treated as a live wire.
Air quality
For the most updated information about the impacts to local air quality due to the wildfires, visit the Lake County Air Quality Management District Web site at http://www.lcaqmd.net or call 707-263-7000.
Lodging services
Evacuated residents looking for assistance with reservations at local lodging establishments may contact the Lake County Visitor Information Center at 707-274-5652 or 800-LAKESIDE.
LAKE COUNTY,Calif. – As record high temperatures continue to broil most of the state, firefighters throughout California continue to work hard to bring several wildfires under control.
On Monday, Gov. Edmund G. Brown Jr. secured federal financial assistance to help ensure availability of vital resources to extinguish the Wye Fire Complex of wildfires burning in Lake County.
California received approval for a special Fire Management Assistance Grant (FMAG) which provides funds to reimburse firefighting expenses.
“Resources can get strained during this time of year, so these funds are critical for providing our local and state firefighters with the tools they need to fight this fire,” said Cal EMA Secretary Mark Ghilarducci. “We are doing everything we can to assist the fire-affected areas and the firefighters who are bravely fighting this fire. We are thankful for the support from our federal partners and glad that they understand the magnitude of the Wye Fire.”
This specific funding provided by FEMA allows a 75 percent federal cost-share reimbursement, through the President’s Disaster Relief Fund, to California for costs incurred in firefighting activities. The other 25 percent of firefighting costs is left to the local jurisdiction.
The FMAG is available to state, local and tribal governments. The reimbursed costs must be a result of fire disaster declared by the governor and performed within the designated fire area using resources requested by incident commanders.
Reimbursements can include supplies, labor, travel, repairs, administrative costs and mobilizations/demobilizations.
The Wye Fire has so far burned over 6,000 acres and is at 25 percent containment. The fire is threatening 480 residences resulting in mandatory evacuations for the affected area.
For current information about the Wye wildfires visit http://cdfdata.fire.ca.gov/incidents/incidents_details_info?incident_id=707
Joining the hundreds of local government and federal firefighting personnel already battling fires throughout the state, the California Emergency Management Agency has currently deployed mutual aid resources including nine Cal EMA Strike Teams, 39 local government strike teams/task forces; 240 engines and 781 firefighters.
Cal EMA is responsible for the coordination of overall state agency response to major disasters in support of local government.
The agency is responsible for assuring the state’s readiness to respond to and recover from all hazards – natural, manmade, war-caused emergencies and disasters – and for assisting local governments in their emergency preparedness, response, recovery, and hazard mitigation efforts.
Visit the agency online at www.calema.ca.gov or @calema on Twitter and get the latest news at www.calemanews.wordpress.com .