SOUTH LAKE COUNTY, Calif. – On Friday, the Valley fire recovery process reached a milestone.

On that day, the last loads of Valley fire debris was removed by CalRecycle crews from a remote property at Ettawa Springs.

In the video above, Lake County Environmental Health Director Ray Ruminski discusses the cleanup at the last property and the process that the crews used to safely mitigate the waste left behind by the fire, which tore through the south county in September.

CalRecycle began the cleanup last fall, took a break during the wet winter months, and then resumed work in the spring, officials reported.

Ruminski estimated that CalRecycle has cleaned up 1,183 residential structures, with an estimated 25,000 tons of debris removed.

He said that amounted to more than 23,000 dump truck loads that, if lined up, would reach from Middletown to Monterey.

Still to be cleaned up is the Hoberg's Resort, which Ruminski said was determined ineligible for the state-funded cleanup.

Leading the CalRecycle effort was Todd Thalhamer, who was raised in Lake County. Thalhamer said his childhood home in Cobb was among the residences that burned.

Simultaneously, while working on the Valley fire cleanup, Ruminski said CalRecycle has been working on cleanup for the Butte fire, which burned in Amador and Calaveras counties last fall.

The video was shot and produced by John Jensen of Lake County News.

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