The Erskine Fire that broke out in the mountains near Kern County in June burned around 50,000 acres. More than 280 homes were reduced to rubble by the fire displacing thousands of people. Now those residents are trying to figure out whether rebuilding is worth it.
Shellie Bryant has worked in Kern County’s oil industry for more than 30 years. She saved and used some of her retirement so she could buy a plot of land and a trailer in the community of South Lake not far from the shores of Lake Isabella.
"It was really emotional for me because this was one of the first properties that I had purchased myself being a single mother." - Shellie Bryant
Her dream of moving to this property fulltime is gone.
“It was really emotional for me because this was one of the first properties that I had purchased myself being a single mother," Bryant says. "Yeah, it’s overwhelming.”
South Lake is a really windy area that’s surrounded on three sides by steep desert mountains. When the fire reached the tips of these hills it rushed down and consumed a large portion of this community. Row after row of houses are no longer there. Metal frames, chain-link fences and American flags are all that stand.
Bryant and her father Bud Ayers are digging through the ashes to hopefully save their septic tank in order to cut the cost of rebuilding because her place was underinsured.
“From the estimate I got it would cost $137,500 to put a new place in here like the one that was here," Bryant says. "And the insurance . . . maximum is $92,000.”
Bryant isn’t sure how she’ll make up that difference. In the meantime she’s living at her second home in Bakersfield. Even though her home was demolished she’s considered one of the lucky ones in this community where the average income is less than $20,000 a year. Hundreds of people are still couch surfing or staying at hotels. Deborah Hess with the Kern Valley Healthcare District says finding housing in this mountain community is tough.
“What I’m seeing the biggest need right now is that we don’t have enough rentals for the people that have been displaced," says Hess.
"You had to have over 800 uninsured homes burn. This place would have been wiped out. We lost nearly an entire community." - Daures Stephens
"That is our number one problem.”
Because there aren’t enough homes, these residents were hoping to get temporary housing through FEMA. But FEMA rejected aid saying damage from the blaze “was not of such severity and magnitude as to be beyond the capabilities” of state and local government help. This felt like a blow to the community where around 100 of the destroyed homes were uninsured. Daures Stephens with the American Legion is helping aid the 41 veterans affected by the fire.
“The income here is ridiculous," Stephens says. "You had to have over 800 uninsured homes burn. This place would have been wiped out. We lost nearly an entire community.”
But late last week the California Office of Emergency Services decided to offer 71 manufactured housing units to fire victims in this mountain community. The Kern County Board of Supervisors will most likely approve the aid at their meeting this week. The county is taking applications from fire victims, but before the homes are installed in a few weeks’ crews will clear out debris and contaminated soil. A task funded by the state at around $50,000 per home.
Down the mountain in Bakersfield a group of techies is trying to figure out other solutions for this community.
“This is the first wildfire hackathon that I’ve ever heard of. So everyone give your selves a round of applause," says Alyssa Haerle with The Kern Innovation and Technology Community. She organized the wildfire themed hackathon this past weekend.
"You list all the different items you need in a fire or a flood or an earthquake and we will do location based calls, emails to different resources automatically for you."- Scott Barton
"We want to create technology that actually helps people. Not just another phone app or game," says Haerle.
Teams gathered together to create computer programs and apps over a three day period. One attendee pitched an idea to use drones to collect real-time data and to offer assistance to fire victims.
Scott Barton, one of the founders of a tech collaborative in Bakersfield called Mesh Cowork, pitched an app called “Beacon” that allows a user to create a pin of their location in the affected area.
“You list all the different items you need in a fire or a flood or an earthquake and we will do location based calls, emails to different resources automatically for you,"says Barton. His team won the competition.
Its ideas like this that hopefully in the future will help aid authorities during a blaze and diffuse confusion in the aftermath that follows catastrophes like the Erskine Fire.
