LAKEPORT, Calif. – While the county transitions from recovery to rebuilding, the Board of Supervisors on Tuesday voted to continue proclamations of a health emergency and an emergency due to wildfire conditions.

Lake County Health Officer Dr. Karen Tait asked the board to continue the health emergency that she had declared in September due to the Valley fire.

The law requires that Tait ask the board to renew the proclamation every two weeks.

“The debris removal has largely been accomplished but there is ongoing work that's likely to continue for several months,” said Tait.

She said she expects to return to the board throughout that period of time to ask that the proclamation be continued in order to continue receiving support from the various agencies assisting the county in the wake of the fire.

The board voted unanimously to approve the proclamation.

Later in the meeting, the board also unanimously approved continuing the proclamation of an emergency declaration for wildfire conditions.

“We're recommending that the proclamation continue primarily to support the tree removal project and any other kind of recovery projects through the recovery phase,” said County Administrative Officer Matt Perry.

Board Chair Rob Brown said people have questioned having the proclamation since it's been raining.

He explained that there are conditions that go along with the wildfires that the county experienced that may not necessarily be a fire but related issues, like flooding or landslides.

It was for that reason that the board needed to continue the proclamation, he said.

Also on Tuesday, Carol Huchingson, the county's Social Services director and long-term fire recovery coordinator, gave the board a brief update on the county's recovery-related activities.

“Recovery is really transitioning these days,” she said, with much more focus and emphasis on rebuilding and what needs to be done to make that happen.

As of Tuesday, there were 40 active residential building permits, a few homes already nearing completion, and 40 temporary dwelling permits for individuals either living in manufactured housing units supplied by the Federal Emergency Management Agency or in RVs on private property, she said.

Huchingson said county officials “guesstimate” that there are at least another 40 people living in RVs that are not permitted, with the Community Development Department planning to reach out to them to help them with the permitting process.

She said the cleanup of logs at Hoberg's Resort – which has been a staging area for logs being removed from the fire area as well as a planned mill operation that the county halted – is coming along well, with the county working to set up a meeting with Hoberg's staff next week to discuss debris removal.

Huchingson said the county's donation management operations also are winding down.

“Considerable county staff time and energy has been put into donations management,” which Huchingson said is “not normally a county function.”

The county is beginning to transition handling of donations to volunteer agencies, she said.

Huchingson said she has heard from her counterparts at FEMA and the California Office of Emergency Services that the donations aspect in such situations “is often considered the disaster after the disaster.”

She added, thanks to county staff, that hasn't been the case, but it has still been a challenge.

Environmental Health Director Ray Ruminski said the cleanup led by CalRecycle and its contractor Pacific States is nearing the end.

“They've cleared over 1,200 lots,” he said, and have demobilized all heavy work crews except for a few.

“They plan to return when some of the muddy conditions dry out and pick up about 30 lots that they had to defer until then,” he said.

Ruminski said some crews will remain over the next few weeks to finish up work and do followup on debris removal, which includes soil sampling and erosion control. The debris removal operations center closed on Saturday.

Next up is abatement of parcels where the owner neither signed up for the CalRecycle cleanup nor hired their own private contractor. Ruminski said that work will be gearing up in the next few weeks.

He said private contractors registered with the county currently are cleaning up about 160 lots, with that cleanup process required to meet the standards CalRecycle used.

Brown said that after the spring cleanup, the county will try to mobilize local contractors who have been working with CalRecycle for use on future projects. Ruminski added that there is a good workforce of contractors trained for the cleanup process who have been working under Pacific States.

Now that the debris removal operations center is closed, Ruminski said anyone needing information on how to get lots cleared or soil tested should contact Environmental Health, located at 922 Bevins Court in Lakeport, telephone 707-263-1164.

During the update, Supervisor Jeff Smith asked about the status of tree removal. Brown said tree removal operations currently are focused in the county right-of-way and are nearing completion.

Email Elizabeth Larson at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. . Follow her on Twitter, @ERLarson, or Lake County News, @LakeCoNews.