State Program Finishes Removing Debris from 2020 Wildfire Season
NAPA COUNTY (BCN) -- Crews have finished removing burned metal, concrete, ash and contaminated soil from Napa County properties affected by 2020 wildfires, the Governor's Office of Emergency Services announced Thursday.
The removal took place at 311 properties in the county through California's Consolidated Debris Removal Program run through the OES, which sent state and federal officials to inspect and remove wildfire waste from properties in 25 California counties. Statewide, nearly 6,000 properties participated in the program.
With Napa County's completion, all six of the counties in the greater Bay Area eligible for the program have completed their debris removal operations. Statewide, 98.3 percent of debris eligible for the program has been cleared.
Removing the debris Is the first step in allowing property owners to rebuild what was previous destroyed by fires. In 2020, more than 8,000 fires burned 4.2 million acres in the state, destroying more than 5,700 homes.
Next, property owners will have to go through several assessments to ensure their soil and vegetation meets state environmental health and safety standards before state officials perform a final inspection and local officials approve the property for reconstruction.
In Napa County, 78.5 percent of properties enrolled in the program have been approved to start the permitting process with the county to begin rebuilding. Lake, Mendocino and Santa Clara counties have reached 100 percent of properties being approved by state officials to apply for a permit.
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