More than 300 homes destroyed by LNU wildfire, county says
The information was published in a monthly newsletter that will be presented to the Board of Supervisors on Tuesday.
(Photo by the author)
A wind-whipped wildfire that tore through rural portions of Solano County in mid-August destroyed 309 homes and damaged 854 other structures, according to new data released by Solano County this week.
The data was published in a newsletter that will be presented to the Solano County Board of Supervisors during their scheduled meeting on Tuesday.
The LNU Lightning Complex wildfire started in neighboring Napa County during a lightning storm on August 17 and crossed into rural portions of Vacaville, Fairfield and Winters the following evening.
Around a half-dozen counties in Northern California were impacted by the wildfire before it was finally contained earlier this month. Of the 375,000 acres burned by the fire, 42,000 acres of land caught fire in Solano County.
The sheer size and destruction of the wildfire prompted county officials to send a letter to the California Office of Emergency Services in late April requesting financial assistance for cleanup efforts. Officials are still awaiting a response from the state, according to information published in the newsletter reviewed by Solano News Update.
County officials are also awaiting a commitment from the Federal Emergency Management Agency to provide funding for county-sponsored wildfire debris removal and cleanup efforts.
"Should the funding become available, we will still have to determine how quickly the government contractors could begin the work," a county official wrote. "This would be a no cost program to the property owner if they elect to use this option, [but] it is important to note that any insurance proceeds that the owner would otherwise be entitled to for debris clean up under their policy would be transferred to FEMA to offset costs of the program."
In addition to the cleanup program, county officials said nearly 350 households took advantage of an in-person Local Assistance Center (LAC) that was established to provide wildfire victims with resources and information immediately after the fire. The county closed its in-person assistance center in late August and transitioned its post-wildfire recovery resources online.
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