CLEARLAKE, Calif. – Several local agencies are involved with the investigation into a late Thursday night fire that burned a dilapidated motel building, with monitoring of environmental conditions at the lakeside property also taking place.
The fire at the old Wisedas Resort, located at 14395 Lakeshore Drive, was first reported just after 11:15 p.m. Thursday, as Lake County News has reported.
Fire agencies from around the county responded to fight the fire in the two-story, 14-unit structure, which has not been occupied in several years.
Lake County Fire Chief Willie Sapeta said the fire was fully contained by 6 a.m. Friday, with units remaining on scene until 3 p.m.
He said an investigation into the fire's cause began immediately, and is being carried out by his agency, along with Cal Fire and the Clearlake Police Department.
Sapeta said most of the fire went up through the building's rafters and attic space, and he estimated that up to 30 percent of the building was damaged in the fire.
The main building on the property was destroyed by fire in February 2013, with the motel structure at the rear of the property – which burned Thursday – undamaged at that time.
Ed Meyer, a mediator and arbitrator who works in Hollywood and bought the resort in August 2012, entered into discussions with city and county officials and in June 2013 had the shell of the fire-damaged resort structure demolished.
The 2013 fire was determined to be caused by arson, with a California Department of Fish and Wildlife warden arresting a homeless man, Richard Alarcon Teruel, on the same day of the fire.
In July of 2013, Teruel – who spent several months in the Lake County Jail – pleaded no contest to recklessly causing a structure fire and received three years' probation, according to District Attorney Don Anderson.
The Wisedas property had been inhabited by transients at the time of the 2013 fire, and Sapeta said there were signs of squatting when firefighters arrived at the fire on Thursday night. However, he said it was hard to say at this point if squatters actually had been using it recently.
In addition to police and fire officials, a number of agencies – Lakebed Management, Lake County Environmental Health, Lake County Air Quality Management District, the California Department of Fish and Wildlife and the Lake County District Attorney's Office – are involved in the investigation going forward.
On Friday afternoon, District Attorney's Office investigators were on scene using 3D scanning equipment to document the scene.
The end of the building on the lakeshore appeared to be the most damaged, and numerous pieces of burned wood that came off the building's back deck were floating in the lake or had washed up on the shoreline. A timber retaining wall had partially collapsed with soil and gravel spilling out of it.
Water from the overnight firefighting effort went into the lake, with officials reporting that the California Department of Fish and Wildlife was going to put booms in the lake to contain the water and debris.
Clearlake Code Enforcement also red-tagged the building on Friday, with the notice stating that the structure is a fire hazard.
Meyer and the city of Clearlake have been at loggerheads over the property, with Meyer maintaining that he has met all of the city's deadlines to clean up the property, and actually came in one month ahead of the deadline in an agreement he had with the city.
He said he had to fight the insurance company to get a settlement on the first fire that he intends to use to rebuild on the property, and that he's already spent a fortune to clean it up.
In July of 2015, Meyer filed a lawsuit for $685,000 plus an undetermined amount of punitive damages against the city of Clearlake alleging that the city's “negligent lack of control” of Highlands Park, which is adjacent to his property, caused crime to overrun and destroy the Wisedas property.
The suit – filed with Lake County Superior Court rather than with the city according to its tort claim process – ultimately was dropped, said Meyer, but on Friday he said he fully intended to sue the city again.
He maintained that the homeless continued to break into the property, which he blamed on the city. “Despite our many complaints they've never protected our property.”
District Attorney Don Anderson said Friday that for three years local officials have been trying to get the property cleaned up and the asbestos problems abated, explaining that Meyer hasn't complied.
“So we charged him criminally,” Anderson said.
A circuit environmental prosecutor filed a case against Meyer in January alleging that Meyer has maintained or permitted a nuisance in violation of city of Clearlake codes.
Anderson alleged that, as a result of the property not being properly cleaned up, it caught fire.
Meyer called the case against him “nonsense.”
Anderson said the case was scheduled for trial on Nov. 9. “We're set to go to trial and this thing happens.”
As a result of the fire, Anderson expects the case will be continued this coming week.
However, he said there likely will be more charges coming against Meyer as a result of this week's fire. Anderson said his agency may file a brand new case and consolidate it with the one opened in January.
In return, Meyer alleged that the city wants to take the property from him and put a marina there, and that he plans to fight them.
City Hall was closed on Friday and so City Manager Greg Folsom could not be reached to respond to Meyer's allegations.
Meyer said he plans to bring in some contractors and an emergency cleanup crew. “I don't have all the details yet.”
He said he recently had contracted with Wahlberg Inc. to do asbestos and hazardous materials remediation and demolish the building.
In May, the Clearlake City Council awarded Wahlberg Inc. a $62,234 contract to demolition two older structures that had asbestos issues, one of them being the old Austin Resort, across from City Hall, as Lake County News has reported.
Meyer said he was not sure if the demolition of the damaged motel structure could go forward at this point due to the fire.
Sapeta said that, due to the resort's lakeside location, the building's demolition will require permits, special testing and the oversight of local and state agencies.
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