Robert Rogers, San Bernardino County Sun Staff Writer
YUCCA VALLEY - With flames encroaching on the outskirts of the area and the specter of large numbers of displaced residents looming over this desert community, county emergency planners sprang into action.
"We mobilized Friday morning, getting calls out to various public and private agencies for support in the relief effort," Sam Bernardino County spokeswoman Lynne Fischer said Saturday. "We were assembled here by 10 a.m. today, and it has worked out fabulously."
A county-coordinated effort assembled 26 public and private agencies in a converted community multipurpose hall between 10 a.m. and 3 p.m. Saturday, drawing more than 100 local residents seeking relief and resources.
The room, housed in the Yucca Valley Community Center, became a cluster of rectangular tables manned by representatives from the American Red Cross, the United Way, the county Behavioral Health and Fire departments and other groups.
Displaced or unsettled residents flocked to the center for the latest mapped updates of the Sawtooth Complex Fire's progress and vouchers for nearby motels.
"When a community has been devastated, people are scrambling to find out their next steps," said Keith Lee of the county's administrative office, who oversaw the relief center. "What we are doing is short-stopping this process by assembling as many resources as possible in one location."
Fischer said the county's ability to mount a relief effort was in part due to a similar assemblage it coordinated in Rialto last year to aid Hurricane Katrina victims.
But this disaster, while smaller in scale, hit closer to home.
"This time, obviously, we had a lot less time to prepare," Fischer said.
Also on hand Saturday was the Department of Public Works, which deployed Waste Management Manager Peter Wulfman.
Wulfman spent his morning jotting down names, phone numbers and addresses of local residents so his agency could supply them with 30-foot bins to haul away charred debris from the landscapes around their homes or their homes themselves.
The bins and hauling will be provided free of charge.
"These people have suffered a huge loss, and many of them don't have insurance that will cover all their damages. Part of disaster management is providing services efficiently to deal with the aftermath," Wulfman said.
As of Saturday afternoon, the relief effort was mostly county-based, Lee said.
But that could change if the area is designated a federal disaster area, which would bring in federal emergency crews.
At 2:30 p.m., county Fire Division Chief Paul Summers dropped by to commend the roomful of service providers for their efforts. He said the cost of the effort, which he estimated at $8.5 million, may be defrayed by state and federal grants.
"It's our tax money at work," he said.
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That tax money is doing a great job. I volunteered to pick up horses and livestock if they needed me to, however they never have called me so they must have had all the help that they needed. There was some beutiful horses that were at the Shelter for adoption, it is a shame that they had to be let go. I am sorry that the family that had the horses had to let them go. It was the last think that was related to their property that they had attached to it!! everything they had was burned up in the fire that was over on the other side of the vally from Yucca. I just hope that there was not that many families that lost so many homes and things when they were stuck in the fires in Yucca Valley.
You know what is terrible is that this has to be our Tax Dollars at work!! I couldn't be money that was found to be able to be spent somewhere else other then here, What I mean by this is that I wish, that this disaster didn't happen, and the money could be allicated elswhere, for other goods, rather then here. But I am just dreaming and that is what it is. Praise God no one got hurt Extreamly bad on this fire, and everyone can live to tell about it.
BSRanch
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