Fawn Fire Cleanup – What are My Options?

Our firm is based in Anderson now, but we started in Redding and we all have friends and family all over the Redding area. One of our closest friends was evacuated, but his house was spared.  If you’re reading this, we’re guessing you weren’t so lucky.  When the fires happen in our backyard, it makes us feel even more sadness for those who lost everything. The advice we give you is what we’d do if we lost our own home. If you’re still struggling with the clean-up process and what happens next, then the writeup found here will explain the process in detail from debris removal to permission to re-build from your local building department.

As of 10-28-21, it’s not clear if there will be a state/federal funded clean-up option made available for the Fawn Fire. We believe there’s still a chance one will become available if you’ve lost your home.  If don’t have insurance coverage at all – then you 100% should hold tight and wait to see if the government-funded option becomes available. We know that’s easier said than done when you just want to get your life back to normal but waiting could save you tens of thousands of dollars if you're paying out of pocket for all testing and cleanup. Assuming the government option does become available, then the debris removal, associated testing and more will be completed at no out-of-pocket cost to you. We have lots of information and articles on how you can maximize your insurance coverage for debris removal, the pros and cons of opting in vs. opting out, and more that can be found on our general wildfire information page here.

Option 1, Government Cleanup:  Let’s assume that the government funded option becomes available and you’ll have the choice to ‘opt-in’ to participate or ‘opt-out’ and use  your own insurance to clean up the ash and debris and perform required testing.  We put together a flowchart, found here,  to show how this process works regardless of which option you choose. If you sign a right of entry (ROE) form authorizing access and the cleanup of your property, the government and their subcontractors do this work, and you eventually get a clear to re-build.  

Option 2, Private Cleanup is your chosen option or the only option that ends up being available.  Shasta County is aware this is a tremendous burden on homeowners who are already struggling, so they’re doing what they can to lessen the burden. There are no fees for the associated permitting required for cleanup, it appears no waste profiling of the waste debris will be required for disposal beyond completion of an asbestos survey, no soil sampling is required at completion of the cleanup, and there is a $2,000 disposal voucher for West Central Landfill which will be given to homeowners who had 50% or greater damage to a residential structure.  The process is essentially to have an asbestos survey done on the structures lost in the wildfire, submit a demolition permit application to Shasta County – and a National Emissions Standard for Hazardous Air Pollutants (NESHAP) notification in some instances – obtain your $2,000 disposal voucher to West Central Landfill, dispose of all ash, debris and any contaminated soil, and retain any disposal documentation. You should then be cleared to then pursue a building permit. 

We sincerely hope everyone is safe and healthy and that the clean-up and recovery process runs smoothly for each of you.  If you need advice, we’ll tell you exactly what we’d do if we were in the same situation.

Please contact the Guzi-West team if you have further questions or need additional information on fire debris removal at 888-351-8189 or contact Clay Guzi directly at clay@guziwest.com or 888-351-8189 x 5.