Federal & State Resources; Insurance Help; Caution on Using Your Private Well or Spring; Erosion Control; Temporary Trailer Permits

I wanted to share some new fire recovery related news that I hope will be a help to you. Everyone should find this first item helpful, no matter where you live in Napa County. For those whose water is from a well or spring in a burned area, the information further below is essential reading.

First, a reminder that there are information sessions for Fire Recovery each week by Facebook Live and Zoom. They are all recorded and available for review any time at Wildfire Community Briefings on the Napa County website.

Yesterday's briefing was all about federal and state (FEMA, CalOES, and SBA) financial assistance - some of which is available to any business owner in Napa County, simply because of the federal disaster declaration for the Hennessey Fire. There is so much available - all you need to do is apply. "Apply, apply, apply," as the CalOES representative said!

The deadline is short: November 23 - but do not hesitate. You may not realize until months from now that an extra $30,000 from SBA would help you complete the rebuild of your home (SBA helps homeowners as well as businesses), or that FEMA mitigation $ could help you install home hardening measures to your damaged residence to minimize/prevent future fire damage.

There are people to help you with the application process at our Napa County Local Assistance Center. Please avail yourself of these opportunities before it's too late to do so.

Insurance Help: United Policyholders is a non-profit organization that can be a tremendous help to you. Its programs are co-sponsored by the Napa Valley Community Foundation (thank you, NVCF!). UP's website is a fountain of useful information. Please sign up to receive their calendar of events, which I'm sure you'll find very helpful, no matter how small or large your insurance issue is. Their workshops are held about twice weekly, on different topics, e.g., restoring your smoke damaged home, insurance to rebuild a wildfire-destroyed home, insurance claim help for wildfire-impacted renters ...

Your Well or Spring Water System

It's come to our attention that special attention is needed by every homeowner or resident to the well/spring water system that may serve their home. Damage could have occurred that is not readily visible. For instance, the intensity of the fire in a particular area may have caused the inside of PVC pipe to boil, and thus burn, which might not be evident from an external view; it could have happened if the pipe was buried only slightly underground. Information to help you assess your personal situation can be found here.

Erosion Control & Watershed Protection

Many people have asked about this topic. Staff has updated our information page relevant to the impact of the recent fires.

Temporary Trailer Permits

The County is again allowing property owners to place trailers on their destroyed residential properties now and through the rebuilding process. Staff has updated the process and procedure description found here (originally written in early 2018) for application to the Hennessey and Glass Fire property owners.

Take care of yourself and those around you. As always, please know that I am here for you and will be throughout the entire recovery process.