"It is estimated that some 28,000
undocumented adults and children lived in the region worst affected by the flames."
Survivors of Northern
California fires face new ordeal of recovery
By Therese Leclerc
6 November 2017
The fires are out in Northern California. The California
Department of Forestry and Fire Protection has announced that all the wildfires
that have ravaged the counties of Napa, Lake, Sonoma, Mendocino, Butte and
Solano, north of San Francisco, since October 9 have been completely contained.
At the height of the blaze, 42 residents lost their lives as
10,000 firefighters, many of them volunteers, worked shifts of up to four days
straight to battle the infernos. Crews were mobilized from throughout the
state. Others came in from neighboring Nevada and Oregon and from as far away
as Canada, Mexico and Australia.
With the extinguishing of the flames, however, the ordeal for the
survivors has entered a new stage.
The fires are the most severe California has ever faced. Some
15,000 homes and 3,000 vehicles were destroyed or damaged.
Figures released by the state insurance commissioner’s office last
week put the damage at over $3 billion. That figure is certain to rise.
For the first time, this year’s fires, driven by up-to-50-mph
winds, engulfed urban areas, such as the city of Santa Rosa, where the Coffey
Park neighborhood was reduced to ashes after the flames jumped six lanes of
Highway 101.
Homeowners and renters, still in makeshift accommodation, are
currently tackling the onerous task of cleaning up, attempting to retrieve any
of their belongings that may have survived and applying for insurance and what
federal assistance is available.
California has declared a public health emergency in the fire
area. Mobile homes that were incinerated in Santa Rosa were found to have
contained asbestos. Freon from air conditioners and heavy metals such as
arsenic, copper and lead pose health risks throughout the area as well.
Recent rain—and the rainfall to come with the approach of
winter—risks carrying the hazardous waste down into waterways, and even into
water treatment plants, downstream of destroyed forests and charred
neighborhoods.
Some homes have been designated toxic waste sites, further
complicating the job for residents trying to salvage belongings.
There are residents who face even more obstacles to regaining
their homes and jobs. These are the undocumented workers, who form the core
workforce of the main industries in the region—hospitality, tourism and the
wineries. It is estimated that some 28,000 undocumented adults and children
lived in the region worst affected by the flames.
These workers do not qualify for Federal Emergency Management
Agency (FEMA) aid. One of the many details required on the FEMA application
forms is a social security number, denied to these residents, some of whom have
lived in the area for up to 18 years. Children of these families who are
American citizens do qualify for federal aid, but there is a fear that if the
family seeks aid, other family members will be detained and deported.
This fear also kept many out of the shelters set up for residents
who lost their homes or were ordered to evacuate endangered areas. Members of
the National Guard were stationed at the shelters.
In the days following the outbreak of the fires, dozens of these
families slept in cars and on beaches along the California coast.
Officials have said it will take years for the region to recover,
socially and economically. Judging by the experience of residents in the wake
of other recent disasters in the United States and its territories, that may be
an understatement.
In Houston, recently flooded after the passage of Hurricane
Harvey, the disaster is worsening the level of social inequality in the region.
NBC reported on October 23 that the poor in the Houston area are
likely to fall further into poverty and homelessness while the wealthy are
moving ahead with rebuilding.
Those who have been receiving temporary assistance from FEMA over
the last two months now find themselves struggling to regain a foothold in
their lives.
“Displaced renters have found themselves reliant on the whims of
landlords or the generosity of friends,” the NBC report stated. “Homeowners
without flood insurance are in a similar bind, while those who have it are
waiting for their claims to go through. Some are maxing out their credit cards,
or moving back into damaged houses.
“In some prosperous neighborhoods,” the report added, “certain
homeowners aren’t bothering to wait for their insurance checks—if they had
flood insurance at all—and are paying their contractors up front.”
An even more extreme situation exists in Puerto Rico, devastated
by Hurricane Maria in late September. Most residents have been told they will
be without power until January or February, with some of those in the outlying
areas having to wait until spring or summer, according to the Army Corps of
Engineers.
The hardship experienced by people in these situations can become
permanent. In New Orleans, flooded in the wake of Hurricane Katrina in 2005,
residents were temporarily removed to neighboring states, far from their homes
and jobs. Twelve years later, many are still displaced. While some have managed
to start again in their new location, those who would prefer to return face expenses
most people cannot meet. There is a lack of affordable housing in the city and
new safety standards for elevating homes. Some people will never be able to
return.
In Northern California, those who manage to overcome all the
obstacles to rebuilding may encounter a further problem: insurance rate hikes.
In a press conference on Tuesday, state insurance commissioner
Dave Jones warned that in the wake of the disaster insurers were likely to
reevaluate the risk that wildfires pose to structures previously considered
low-risk to such threats.
“I am concerned the fire we just experienced is not an anomaly and
may represent a new normal,” Jones said.
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