The Jan. 2 five-alarm blaze in Arcata’s downtown has officially earned a “State of Emergency” proclamation from California Gov. Gavin Newsom’s office late Friday.
Newsom’s proclamation notes “local authority is inadequate to cope with the magnitude of extreme peril posed by the fire.”
Arcata Mayor Kimberley White expressed surprise when reached Saturday by the Times-Standard.
“I’m thrilled that this has come to fruition, a little surprised, but excited, and anticipating this is going to be very helpful,” White said. “I just can’t speak to specifics right now.” White emphasized she had spoken with the assistant city manager, but said the declaration was new — as more information becomes available, the city council will keep the public informed.
“We understand that Gavin Newsom included the damages caused by the Jan. 2 Arcata fire in his emergency declarations,” White said. “We are grateful for the assistance this action may provide to affected businesses and those directly impacted by the fire. Since the city of Arcata and Humboldt County declared a local emergency in the aftermath of the fire, the city has been working closely with state and county Office of Emergency Services to support response and recovery efforts. We appreciate the support already provided, as well as any additional resources made available through the governor’s action, as our community continues to recover.”
Newsom’s emergency declaration outlines the Jan. 2 disaster and how the its aftermath is going: “The Arcata Fire, comprised of three interconnected fires, damaged multiple commercial and residential buildings and resulted in the collapse of several large structures and damage to roads and sidewalks from heat exposure, debris, and suppression activities… the City of Arcata is addressing site stabilization, dust control, and possible asbestos concerns, and has implemented stormwater monitoring and assessments of potential contamination in creeks and waterways…”
The statement notes how “conditions of extreme peril to the safety of persons and property exist” and that “by reason of their magnitude, are or are likely to be beyond the control of the services, personnel, equipment, and facilities of any single local government and require the combined forces of a mutual aid region or regions to appropriately respond.”
In ordering the state of emergency, the governor’s office said, “All agencies of the state government utilize and employ state personnel, equipment, and facilities for the performance of any and all activities consistent with the direction of the Office of Emergency Services and the State Emergency Plan.”
The Arcata community continues to work to recover from and clean up the site of a Jan. 2 fire that razed half a city block. (Sage Alexander/Times-Standard)
Arcata City Councilmember Alex Stillman noted that cleanup is complex.
“When you think about it, there were three different property owners there, so there are three different insurance companies, the different tenants with insurance also,” she said. “So it’s quite a complicated thing when they started working it out. I think they’re getting closer to being able to determine how they’re going to proceed; it’s definitely taking time. I think declaring of the emergency was a bonus for us, and made it good, I was there during the fire and found out it was going on. And my goodness, what an issue.”
She lauded the city’s quick response.
“But it was wonderful,” she continued. “Our City Manager Merritt Perry was able to call in two companies that were able to come in immediately with their excavators and start taking the buildings down, which helped contain the fire and put it out. I saw that everybody cooperated, and it was so interesting to see how many of the different fire departments came in and different rotations, covering each other in different areas of the county. The Red Cross came, and Cal Fire. It was really an effort from many different fire departments and individuals to make it stay within that half-block.”
As to what the declaration might mean to the city and its capacity for continued response, Stillman said, “One of the things the city looks at is from the view of expediting, moving the permitting forward in different areas. That’s important, being able to prioritize. I would think by the end of May, that’s a guess, we might see the lot cleared. One of the properties used to be a dry cleaners, on the northwest corner, in the process of doing cleanup as far as the Regional Water Quality Control Board was concerned. They have until November to finish it, a grant until then. Once the debris is removed, maybe cleanup can proceed more easily and get that property un-contaminated… that’s my interpretation.”
Stillman noted that with all the water pumped on the fire, the city wanted to be sure it had an emergency declared because they didn’t know how much contamination of the drainage system would occur in the city and in Humboldt Bay.
“Because of it,” she said, “and having this, I think it will help us with any contamination issues that came about with the board and other agencies… I would think that’s over now because that should’ve been monitored and taken care of and put in place.”
Stillman is looking at the long-term.
“I don’t know what the future is for that property,” Stillman added. “It all depends on how people are insured. Two of the property owners might not rebuild but sell, and it’ll be interesting to see in the next 10 years what happens there.”
Ken McCanless can be reached at 707-441-0526.