#Paradise fire dogs full
Scott Lotter: "Just, you know, buckets full of dollars was, was the big difference." He encouraged people to use the government cleanup program, but now has a different view.ĭan Noyes: "And you consider the private company doing it versus the government doing it." They also received an $84,000 cleanup bill from the government - still stressful even though they understand that taxpayers are picking up most of the tab.ĭan Noyes: "What has it been like going through all this?"Ĭarol Jones: "I was wishing our house would have burned down, too, so we could just leave."Ī spokesman for Cal Recycle, Chris McSwain, declined to be interviewed, but in a written statement, he defended the government charging more than private companies for the Camp Fire cleanup, saying, "The state-managed program went beyond loading ash into trucks" and included formal, verified safety protocols, air quality testing, protection for streambeds and more.įormer Paradise Mayor Scott Lotter's family lost two homes and a rental property. After their guest house burned to the ground, the government crew left an 80-foot-long hole from three to six feet deep.ĭick Randlett: "That's a huge hole, and you can't have that hole and build in it, you got to bring it back up." Just ask Dick Randlett and his fiancé Carol Jones. We're just charging-"Īnd the problem with a hole that deep - you have to fill it before you can rebuild, and that can be expensive. Max Gardner: "Because they get paid by the ton. Gardner says the government crews removed much more soil those lots around Paradise are easy to spot.ĭan Noyes: "I see those divots, those massive divots that are like swimming pools. Then we'll take it down another two to three inches.
Max Gardner: "You know, we take it down to the soil where you don't see any more ash. Gardner drove a dump truck for a private contractor that cleared 57 homes destroyed by the Camp Fire and charged much less than the government for each project. Max Gardner told the I-Team, "If they were a regular business, they would be out of business." RELATED: CA stops insurance companies from pulling policies in areas hit by wildfires We have documented case after case in which the government charged much more than private contractors - up to ten times more. Mandy Feder-Sawyer: "I think, for all of us to understand where your tax dollars are going, and why, why there's such a huge discrepancy." Mandy Feder-Sawyer is now writing an article for the local newspaper and she asked me to help investigate the Camp Fire cleanup program.ĭan Noyes: "In the big picture, what's the importance of the story? Why is this an important thing to think about and talk about?" They were stuck in that horrible traffic jam as flames devoured the town of Paradise, and returned four days later to see what was left of their home. The Sawyer family barely escaped the Camp Fire, November 8, 2018. Radio traffic squawked, "This has got potential for a major incident." I-Team reporter Dan Noyes says there's one basic question before us - can the government do a job better than the private sector? In this case, we're talking about removing debris from homes destroyed by the Camp Fire. (KGO) - More than three years after the deadliest wildfire in California history, there now new questions about the cost of the cleanup, and how the government program continues to stress out homeowners who have already been through so much. The ABC7 News I-Team is investigating why the government is charging homeowners so much for Camp Fire cleanup, among other questionable practices.
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