It’s been a long six months for Stu Hoffman and his wife. On November 6, the Mountain Fire roared through Ventura County, destroying 181 houses. Their West Highland Drive home was among them.
But, they’ve reached an important step in their efforts to rebuild. The debris has been removed from their lot, and the property has been certified as safe to rebuild.
"The lot's cleared, and eveything's okay to go on the site and start prepping the site," said Hoffman. "We're engaging with an architect to design a new house."
Ventura County’s efforts to help people rebuild recently hit two major milestones. The county-led debris removal program has cleared all 133 properties involved in its effort. It's also certified the soil as 'clean' and ready for rebuilding.
"One (milestone) is where we've removed all the fire debris and ash, and that occurred right around April 1," said Sean Debley, a Program Manager for the Ventura County Environmental Health Division. The agency managed the debris removal and cleanup efforts and Debley served as Incident Commander.
"In the weeks that followed, we were out there doing the confirmation sampling and erosion control, and kind of buttoning this up."
Debley added that three to six inches of soil were removed from each property, followed by testing. If contaminants were found, the process was repeated with more soil removed. The process continued until the property was deemed safe.
It’s become an issue with Southern California’s Eaton and Palisades Fires, because FEMA isn’t paying for testing as a part of the cleanup process on those properties.
Debley said that at the peak of the operation, 12 cleanup crews worked ten hours a day, six days a week. A mild winter helped, with minimal rainfall to disrupt operations.
Cleanup is also progressing on the 41 properties that opted for private debris removal.
"They're getting close," said Debley. "I would say the vast majority of them are getting close. All but one have had the debris and ash removed. Now, they are working through their contractor and doing the final confirmations of soil sampling to ensure that all the fire debris was adequately cleaned up."
Completion of the Ventura County-run debris removal program set the stage for people to start rebuilding.
"I am aware of one property in the City of Camarillo where they have already started that process," said Debley. "I know at the county level, there's been applications submitted, but I'm not aware of any permits to construct being issued on a house that was completely destroyed."
Stu Hoffman, who lost his home in the Mountain Fire, said he’s excited his property has been cleared and is ready for rebuilding. He and his wife aren’t ready to apply for a permit yet. They're still working with an architect on the design.
"We estimate it's going to take three years," said Hoffman. "It's been six months already, and we're just barely getting started. It might be more than three years. We don't know at this point."
Hoffman had nothing but praise for the county’s efforts to get the properties ready for rebuilding.
County officials are now shifting attention to rebuilding efforts. They’ve set up the Mountain Fire Rebuild Team. There are four planners in the county’s Planning Division specifically assigned to providing help with rebuilding projects.
