Declaration allows city to request funds for emergency response expenditures
The city of Healdsburg ratified their emergency declaration in a brief city council meeting Wednesday afternoon, Aug. 26 in response to the Walbridge Fire, which ravaged the unincorporated area of upper Mill Creek and put residents in the city limits of Healdsburg under an evacuation warning for most of last week.
Healdsburg’s Interim City Manager David Kiff declared a local emergency on Aug. 19 and signed the declaration the next day on Aug. 20. When a city or county declares an emergency, the governing body must ratify it within seven days.
A declaration of emergency allows the city to request reimbursement from state and federal resources like the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), for any associated emergency response costs.
“It positions (the city) to request reimbursement for any expenditures,” city attorney Samantha Zutler added.
According to District 4 Supervisor James Gore, as of this morning, the Walbridge Fire sits at 54,923 acres and is 19% contained. The Meyers Fire north of Jenner is 2,360 acres and is 97% contained.
Thus far, cost estimates for the county for the Walbridge and Meyers Fire include $8.7 million in damage to roadways, signs, bridges and other infrastructure, $5.3 million in emergency response, sheltering supplies and staff, and $4 million in debris removal for downed trees and power lines. According to Gore’s update on Facebook, the total estimated damage so far is $18 million.
The county ratified its emergency declaration late last week in a special meeting with supervisors.
In terms of fire activity, fire crews are still working on buttoning up lines to get more containment on the Walbridge Fire.
“The Walbridge Fire offers some significant challenges, heavy fuel, steep and broken terrain, and a lot of homes and a lot of infrastructure that we have to work around,” CalFire Operations Section Chief, Chris Waters said this morning at a press briefing. “We continue to make good progress tying together people’s vineyards, backyards, strategic points, and geography and we’re still working on tying a lot of lines together to put some line around this whole fire.”
