How to resolve AdBlock issue? LAKE COUNTY, Calif. — With the 10th anniversary of the Valley Fire approaching, the Board of Supervisors on Tuesday presented a proclamation honoring lost lives and the community’s resilience in the aftermath, and approved the purchase of a bronze plaque recognizing Middletown Rancheria’s contributions during disasters.
The Valley Fire, ignited on Sept. 12, 2015, near Cobb Mountain, burned 76,067 acres, destroyed 1,955 structures, severely injured four firefighters and took five lives. At the time, the Valley Fire was the third most destructive wildfire in modern California history.
The proclamation, read aloud by Supervisor Jessica Pyska, remembers the residents who died and firefighters who were injured, recognizes the strength of Lake County and its partners — from first responders, volunteers, tribal nations, nonprofits to government agencies locally and statewide — and acknowledges the lessons learned from the fire that continue to shape preparedness and response in times of emergency.
“I think about all the changes that have happened in our Office of Emergency Services, our partnership with Cal OES, the fact that we have Watch Duty now, we have Genesis, we have zones, we have people prepared, we have training,” Pyska spoke of the improvement in response over the years.
“We have so many things that have happened that have brought us to this point where we're not, hopefully, going to lose lives anymore,” she added. “We’ve all been transformed,”
Supervisor Helen Owen, who — like Pyska — lost her home to the fire, spoke of the tremendous support received locally, statewide and nationally.
“Many individuals, businesses, organizations stepped up,” Owen said.
After naming the Middletown Rancheria and Twin Pine casino, Hardester’s markets in the Middletown Cobb and Hidden Valley area, the Middletown Lions Club and the City of Calistoga, among others, Owen said it was an “impossibility” to list everyone involved in the response as the county has not kept track of the data.
“If we’re going to thank one, we need to thank everybody,” Owen said. “It was phenomenal … It wasn't just in California, certainly it wasn't just in Lake County. It was throughout the nation where people were moved and helped us out, and I need to say thank you to them as well.”
“When this event happened, we were all such babies in disaster response,” said Social Service Deputy Director Kelly Page. “We quickly just leaned on compassion and flexibility, and that’s really what we used to get through the next several weeks.”
“This was the first fire for us at Cal OES of this size,” said Sean Smith of Cal OES, who led the debris removal operation for the Rocky, Jerusalem and the Valley fires — three consecutive, destructive blazes in Lake County in the same year.
“We were here learning while we were doing it, and the support from Lake County, from both your elected officials, your appointed officials, and everybody here was phenomenal,” Smith said, recalling the involvement of then-District 5 Supervisor Rob Brown.
Smith added: “To see you guys this resilient 10 years later is phenomenal. I've gone on to 33 fires since then. This one sticks with me.”
Throughout the meeting, gratitude and recognition were given to the Middletown Rancheria and Twin Pine for sheltering evacuees.
The Middletown Rancheria, Pyska said, has “opened their doors so many times without hesitation, to shelter people, to feed people with no expectation of ever being reimbursed or paid because we care about each other.”
“Middletown Rancheria doesn't need to do anything for acclamation. We just do it because it's the right thing to do,” said Middletown Rancheria Chairman Moke Simon, who also served as District 1 supervisor prior to Owen.
He added, “I think that's the best that I've ever seen this community come together. Politics divides it, disasters unite it and we'll just keep moving forward in that manner.”
Discussion and disagreement on plaque recognition
Following the proclamation, the board also discussed recognizing the Middletown Rancheria’s contributions with a bronze plaque, costing $2,100.
Pyska, who proposed the idea, said it’s a gift “from our government to their government to really recognize what a vital partner they are.”
However, Owen expressed concerns about “singling out” one entity. She said she had already purchased a plaque to “honor and remember the entire Middletown community” that contributed during the Valley Fire, including the Middletown Rancheria.
“I am really concerned that only one entity is being recognized for helping during the 2015 Valley Fire,” she said. “And I feel it's important that if we recognize only one, that others will feel insignificant.”
Owen recalled when she had yet to take office, Pyska once told her over lunch that “as a supervisor, we stay in our own lanes.”
“I am the District 1 supervisor; You are the District 5 supervisor,” Owen continued, implying that she felt Pyska was striding over the lane. “And I feel that there's been drama brought forward with this.”
Owen disclosed at the meeting that originally Pyska proposed buying four plaques and Owen offered to “split.” Later, Pyska called to offer splitting one of the four to Owen.
At that time, “You yourself were going to buy one for the tribe,” Owen said to Pyska. “Now you want the county to purchase this?”
“If we start recognizing people, we're going to have to start keeping track, and you have to also be prepared by singling people out, that we are going to open up a can of worms, and you're going to be hurting other people's feelings for not getting that same recognition,” Owen said. “So I cannot support this … and I think that this is drama that was unnecessary.”
Despite Owen’s emphatic opposition, all other supervisors and speakers during public comment supported the dedicated plaque to the tribe.
Pyska maintained that this plaque is “government to government” and requires the entire board’s approval to pay for and to give.
“This is not for just the Valley Fire,” Pyska said. “This is a decade of showing up time and time again and into the future, and that's why I want this board and this County of Lake to recognize the tribes and all that they do for our whole county.”
Sabatier said that Middletown Rancheria is a local government and partner agency, not a business or nonprofit, comparable to the cities of Clearlake and Lakeport.
“When we have partnerships, I think we need to celebrate partnerships,” he said, adding that regardless of whether the plaque is paid by supervisors’ discretionary funds, it comes from the tax dollars from the community.
Supervisor Eddie Crandell supports the plaque too and felt that “singling out” the discussion casts “a negative cloud on the situation rather than celebrating it.”
The board voted 4-1 to approve the plaque to Middletown Rancheria, with Owen voting against.
Three plaques have been ordered, confirmed by Chief Deputy County Administrative Officer Matthew Rothstein in an email. One plaque will be dedicated to Middletown Rancheria, while the other two will honor those who lost their lives, to be placed in Cobb and Middletown, with a total cost of $7,300.
The plaques will be presented at the Valley Fire commemoration event, on Friday, Sept. 12, at Mandala Springs Wellness Retreat Center in Cobb.
Email staff reporter Lingzi Chen at
