During 2016, after the wildfire disasters, the Lake County Sheriff’s Office distributed what they called NOAA Weather Radios (NOAA=National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration). These Midland weather radios provide “all hazards” alerts (aka SAME) and can be invaluable in storm and fire season as they add another important layer of information regarding potential natural disasters. The WR-120EZ model* was given to many Valley Fire survivors and came with an instruction pamphlet, BUT how many of us have programmed ours?
The CAC Communications Sub-Committee has provided the information below to help make it easier to program the NOAA radios you got from the Sheriff’s Department after the wildfires:
First, here’s a quick video tutorial.
Second, below are some recommendations from the Sub-Committee on the settings to use, and why. After changing the button beeps, the sequence is the same as the video.
1. You may first want to set the default to OFF for the BUTTON BEEPS, because the tones can be more annoying than helpful.
2. SET CHANNEL: 6 162.525
This is Ukiah/Laughlin Ridge station, the closest and clearest for most if not all of Lake County.(You can scroll to hear other Nor Cal stations; 6 should be strongest.)
3. SET LOCATION (for 120ez model) either SINGLE>CALIFORNIA>LAKE
or
MULTIPLE>CALIFORNIA>LAKE + MENDOCINO.
(Note: If you have set you Channel to 6, you will not hear the NAPA/SONOMA and YOLO alerts, because these play on San Francisco or Sacramento stations.)
If you have a plain EZ model (not the 120), Lake County is the SAME Code 006033
4. ALERT TYPE : VOICE
5. ALERT TEST (don’t select this unless you want to scare yourself!)
6. SET EVENTS : ALL DEFAULT (includes Fire and weather events)
Then go back and SET EVENTS>EDIT EVENTS>REQUIRED WEEKLY TEST : ON
The weekly frequency is so that you can practice hearing the test alerts. You can always change the frequency to monthly if it gets tedious.
Questions? Email Mel, kk6tmn@gmail.com
*If you want to get the same weather radio, these are available on Amazon.
Meeting Change: February 23, 2017
Notice: Meeting Day Change for Cobb Area Council Meeting for the Month of February
Cobb Area Council announces that the February meeting day is changed from the third Thursday to Thursday, February 23rd 6:00, due to a conflict with a meeting that Lake County is holding in Middletown.
Other announcements:
Lake County Rebuilds Town Hall: A community meeting on State housing funds for survivors of the Valley and Clayton fires.
To qualify for a CalHome loan, a single person must earn less than $33,000 annually while a family of four is limited to $47,100. Interest rates vary from 1 percent to 3 percent, depending on need, said Jeff Lucas, a Lake County consultant who assisted Hammers for Hope with its application. Some applicants may be eligible to defer payment for 30 years, but then will have a balloon payment due.
WHEN: Thursday, February 16 from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m.
WHERE: Middletown Middle School gymnasium, 20932 Big Canyon Road, Middletown, CA 95461
TO RSVP: Contact Karlene Rebich at (707) 576-2771 or Karlene.Rebich@sen.ca.gov
The Rebuild Advocacy Committee for the Cobb Area Council will have a REBUILD WORKSHOP on February 18, 2017 from 10-2pm at Cobb Elementary School. If you had insurance or not, we just want to see you all coming home. Please bring any and all questions about the rebuild process. We will have experts available to answer your questions.
ReBuild Workshop Feb 18, 2017
The Rebuild Advocacy Committee for the Cobb Area Council presents a
REBUILD WORKSHOP
on Saturday, February 18, 2017
10 – 2:00 pm
Cobb Elementary School
· Are you confused or overwhelmed on where to even start?
· Do you have problems or questions regarding the whole rebuild process?
· Are you concerned about property values?
· Are you concerned about the costs or time length to rebuild?
Please bring any and all questions you have regarding the rebuild process. We will have experts to answer your questions.
•Local Contractors (Lake County Contractors & Bob Sabatino) • Hammers For Hope (Mark Borghesani) • Cobb Area Water (Robert Stark) • Hope City (Kevin Cox) • Habitat For Humanity (Richard Birk) • Policyholders Recovery (Bob Ellenberg) • Timothy Toye & Associates (Timothy Toye) • Lake County Building Department
Any questions call Ron Haskett 707-533-9771 or Kathleen Ahart 707-262-2479
Hobergs Update- February 1, 2017
Abatement Monitoring Committee
Report to Cobb Area Council
February 1, 2017
Two members of the Committee, Glenneth Lambert and Karl Parker, met via phone conference with Hobergs Development Director Scott Schellinger and Manager Dan Nelson on January 31, 2017. The following information was reported during that meeting:
DEBRIS REMOVAL:
Thanks to a spell of dry weather over the past week and a half, considerable progress has been made. Jakela Environmental Services, the contractor for specialized hazardous waste removal, has been able to return and complete six days’ worth of work. As a result, 4 HAZMAT containers filled with debris have been hauled off to special dump sites in either Vacaville or Fairfield. Seven additional sites on the property have been abated. Most of the ridge area is now cleared. Once Jakela has completed the specialized HAZMAT removal, regular crews can move in and complete the clean-up. Weather remains a critical variable, but the end is in sight.
WOOD Processing & REMOVAL
The free firewood program has been suspended and they are trying to get caught up with orders already received. Calls and requests are still being received, and when possible, they have tried to respond. Over the last week and a half, they have moved an additional 2 truckloads each carrying 13 cords of wood off the property. However, during periods of heavy rain they have had to suspend wood processing operations because it’s miserable for the workers, and heavy equipment gets bogged down in the mud. Also, churning up the mud adds to the run-off problem.
WORK FORCE
Some good news: the California Human Resources grant which has provided workers for the abatement project, recently announced that instead of providing $14K per worker, they can earn up to $28K. So Hobergs will be able to hire more workers which will help to accelerate the pace of the cleanup!
Interested people can inquire at the EDD Office in Lakeport – 263-3116.
EROSION CONTROL:
As reported at the January CAC meeting, the primary method of control is ground cover in the form of straw and heavier mulch (wood chips & mulch which have been generated on site. They are also using straw wattles at inlets and baffling whenever possible to help control the flow of water heading toward Putah Creek.
Both Scott and Dan are aware of strong concerns that exist among members of the community and are anxious to address those concerns. In addition to utilizing the methods outlined above, they prioritized the cleanup of the hotel and old lodge building to minimize the washing of HAZMAT into the watershed. They expressed awareness of and concern about causing negative impacts downstream. At this point, most of the asbestos and other hazardous material has been removed from the site.
Scott mentioned the difficulty involved in handling such large volumes of water and runoff from the slopes on the east side of Hwy 175, which have been largely stripped of natural erosion control in the form of ground plants, etc. The challenge of managing such a large volume of water has been daunting.
Scott and Dan would like to set up a time when the committee members could tour the site during daylight hours and see for themselves what efforts have been undertaken to control runoff and erosion. In the meantime, Karl will visit the site and take photos for others to observe.
Responding to concerns about the runoff, Scott stated “It’s in our own best interest to manage the water on the property. Doing so speeds the cleanup operations which will make it possible to begin work developing the site.”
HAZARD TREE REMOVAL:
Lake County Lumber continues to remove hazardous trees from the area.
QUESTIONS or CONCERNS?
Contact Karl Parker @ 592-1649 or karl.parker@mchsi.com