Trailers could house those displaced residents in California
19/10/2017 12:30
Residents of Northern
California's wine country left homeless by the state's
deadliest-ever wildfires could be temporarily housed in federal
government trailers, officials said on Wednesday, as the death
toll from the blazes rose to 42.
Since erupting on Oct. 8 and 9, the blazes have blackened
more than 245,000 acres, (86,200 hectares) and destroyed an
estimated 4,600 homes along with wineries and commercial
buildings.
Thousands of survivors, forced to flee the flames with
little warning, remain displaced. Many are returning to find
nothing left, forcing them to seek housing in emergency shelters
or with family and friends.
The U.S. Federal Emergency Management Agency has called
trailers a solution of last resort for housing the displaced.
But local officials said they had few other options because
of a lack of hotels and rental housing, especially around Santa
Rosa - the urban hub of the region's wine country - which had
nearly 5 percent of its homes destroyed.
"We have talked to FEMA about trailers, we're not sure what
the availability is, how soon we could get them here, but we are
looking at every option," Santa Rosa Mayor Chris Coursey told
Reuters by phone.
"I don't relish having people living in FEMA trailers, but
it's a hell of a lot better than sleeping out under the stars,"
he said.
FEMA deployed trailers to house thousands of people
displaced by 2005's Hurricane Katrina along the U.S. Gulf Coast,
triggering lawsuits by people who contended they were exposed to
formaldehyde in the government-issued housing.
A judge in 2012 approved a settlement requiring builders of
the trailers to pay a settlement of nearly $40 million.
FEMA's latest trailers, which it calls manufactured or
temporary housing units, have new safety features and are built
to high standards, the agency said in a blog post last year.
The agency is only at the beginning stage of determining
which options to employ, in consultation with local officials,
to house people displaced by the fires, FEMA spokesman Victor
Inge said by phone.
"A temporary housing unit is an absolute last resort,
they're expensive and they take a long time to get set up," Inge
said.
'PROBABLY GOING TO NEED TRAILERS'
Officials with Sonoma County, which includes Santa Rosa, are
considering sites with built-in utilities, such as running water
and electricity, for mobile-home units, said Margaret Van Vliet,
executive director of the Sonoma County Community Development
Commission.
"We know we're probably going to need FEMA trailers," she
said.
Firefighters on Wednesday were still battling the blazes,
the deadliest in state history, as search-and-rescue teams
picked through burned-out neighborhoods.
Law enforcement officials said the body of the 42nd
confirmed victim was found late on Tuesday in the Fountain Grove
section of Santa Rosa.
About 60 people remain missing or unaccounted for in Sonoma
and Napa counties. Most of the more than 2,000 people listed in
missing-persons reports have turned up safe, including evacuees
who failed to alert authorities after fleeing their homes.
Fire officials said that while 13 major blazes were still
burning as of Wednesday, the flames were largely contained and
no longer considered a threat to homes or communities.
"We have stopped the forward progress and movement of all
these fires, we have line around them," Brett Gouvea, a
California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection deputy
chief, told reporters at an afternoon news conference.
A Santa Rosa couple whose house was destroyed sued Pacific
Gas & Electric Company (PG&E) on Tuesday, alleging the utility
failed to take preventative measures in the face of dangerous
drought conditions.
Representatives for PG&E said that the utility was focused
on supporting firefighting efforts and restoring power
About 30 vintners sustained fire damage to wine-making
facilities, vineyards, tasting rooms or other assets, according
to the Napa Valley Vintners industry group
|
|