LAKEPORT, Calif. – The American Red Cross gave an update to the Board of Supervisors this week regarding its fundraising and recovery activities related to the Valley fire.

Board of Supervisors Chair Rob Brown asked for the presentation. In response, Trevor Riggen, the regional chief executive officer for the American Red Cross' Northern California Coastal Region, appeared before the board.

Also present at the meeting were American Red Cross California Northwest Executive Director Jeff Baumgartner and Melanie Garrett, the organization's Valley fire disaster recovery manager.

Riggen apologized to the board for not coming sooner to give an update.

He said the organization gets a lot of questions about what it does. “After a disaster our biggest focus is shelter and feeding. That's usually the biggest push right after a disaster.”

That quickly moves into health and mental health support, all of which is done in partnership with community agencies, organizations and schools, he said.

The Red Cross did recovery planning with families as part of its initial assistance, matching them with resources, he said.

That work then moves into long-term recovery, which the Red Cross is still in the midst of now, Riggen said.

To date, the Red Cross has raised $4.5 million for its 2015 California wildfires response, which covered not just the Valley fire but the Butte fire in Calaveras and Amador counties. Of that amount, $2.8 million went toward food, shelter and relief items, Riggen said.

Brown asked about the numbers specific to the Valley fire. Riggen said the numbers he had primarily were part of a combined effort, and it was difficult to separate them out because of the shared management and logistical infrastructure for both incidents.

While the Red Cross has raised $4.5 million to help with the fire response, Riggen said it intends to spend $5.5 million, and has already spent or committed $4.7 million.

Riggen said he estimated that 65 percent of the Red Cross' expenditures from those wildland-fire related funds were for the Valley fire, with the remainder for the Butte fire.

He said the Red Cross provided 87,000 meals and 34,000 bulk items for Valley fire survivors.

Of the $4.7 million spent so far, $2 million was for individual recovery and assistance for survivors of both fires, according to Riggen.

He said the Red Cross opened cases on 1,200 families, or about 2,500 residents of Lake County impacted by the Valley fire, spent $255,000 for health and emotional support and made 6,400 contacts for the Valley fire. The Red Cross partnered with the Center for Independent Living to connect people to resources.

Riggen said the Red Cross policy is when there is money raised in excess of what is spent for response, it goes toward long-term recovery.

As part of that effort, he said the Red Cross began partnering with Team Lake County earlier this year on case management. That partnership offers survivors the ability to go through a process that offers them additional help rebuilding, locating additional housing or other emergency needs.

The process “has moved a bit slower than we had hoped,” he said, explaining that the Red Cross continues to open cases. The plan is to spend more than $435,000 as part of that recovery in Lake County.

Other aspects of the Red Cross recovery work includes offering some mental health assistance to the community through Cobb Mountain Elementary School and hiring Garrett for long-term recovery management, he said.

The case management process has started giving additional assistance and uses a coordinated assistance network. Riggen said they have opened 400 cases, with 400 families registered through Team Lake County.

They're working to establish a client service center in Cobb, have conducted disaster preparedness training and held a preparedness fair at the Hidden Valley Lake Campground, Riggen said.

Riggen said the one year anniversary of such an event tends to be very stressful, and with the anniversary just two months away, they want to make sure they have resources to help the community.

The first priority, Riggen added, is always to get more money in the hands of people who lost their homes.

The Red Cross also is taking additional actions to get ready for the upcoming fire season. “We realized we weren't quite where we wanted to be headed into last fire season,” said Riggen.

The money raised for the wildland fire response is not being used for that preparation, he added.

In addition to hiring Garrett on an 18-month assignment, Riggen said the Red Cross has identified several new Lake County volunteers. “The locals are the most powerful assets we have,” he said.

Riggen said the Red Cross also has placed an additional emergency response vehicle in Lake County and recruited additional drivers, while ramping up efforts to train locally in shelter operations. The local volunteers “know their neighbors best.”

The organization's preparedness has included confirming shelter locations in Middletown – specifically, Twin Pine Casino – as well as in Lakeport and Lower Lake. Riggen said the Red Cross continues to work with the county and emergency service agencies across the area to ensure they're ramped up and ready in the event of another disaster.

He noted that while Garrett's position is for 18 months initially, recovery is likely to take longer.

Based on his experience, “There is always a ragged edge to recovery.”

For some families, they may not be ready for assistance until a year after the fire. “We'll continue to be there” and have resources plugged in and waiting, Riggen said.

Brown asked if the organization had met all of its obligations to the Napa County Fairgrounds in Calistoga, which had sheltered hundreds of Valley fire evacuees.

Riggen said he was following up on reports that the fairgrounds had lost revenue – totaling about $57,000 – during the Red Cross sheltering operations. The Red Cross, he added, doesn't traditionally reimburse for lost revenue.

Supervisor Jeff Smith pointed out that the Highlands Senior Center in Clearlake – which was the location of a county-run Valley fire shelter – also lost revenue, primarily in the form of its main annual fundraiser that was scheduled for that time.

Brown said he believed there was insurance specifically to cover those kinds of losses.

He thanked Riggen for the update and added that he appreciated working with Garrett on recovery-related issues.

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