Opting-In Late for the Fawn Fire Clean Up

If you started asbestos testing with our office but then the federal option becomes available, you could still opt-in and you’d only potentially be out the funds required for our services to date – we say ‘potentially’ because if you have insurance coverage for debris removal, then our services would be covered under that and the State or Federal program will only utilize the amount of funds remaining/available for debris removal. 

If you have no insurance or are paying out of pocket, then you would be out the funds if you paid for our services only to opt-in later if the funding became available.  The State or Federal program would do the same work our office completed but they utilize their own contractors – and we know from experience that they’ll not reduce costs or even accept the survey work completed by anyone else. This option is probably the best one for people who are anxious to get the process started but want to wait as long as possible to see if the funding becomes available. If the funding doesn’t become available, then you’ll already know whether asbestos is present, all your paperwork will be in place, and you can simply move forward with the excavation contractor of your choice as soon as you elect to do so. If you’re not in a hurry to complete the process, or don’t have insurance coverage, then we still recommend you wait.

Option 1, Government Cleanup:  Let’s assume that the government funded option becomes available and you’ll have the choice to ‘opt-in’ to participate or ‘opt-out’ and use your own insurance to clean up the ash and debris and perform required testing.  We put together a flowchart, found here, to show how this process works regardless of which option you choose. If you sign a right of entry (ROE) form authorizing access and the cleanup of your property, the government and their subcontractors do the work, and you eventually get cleared to re-build.  

Option 2, Private Cleanup: This is your chosen option or the only option that ends up being available.  Shasta County is aware this is a tremendous burden on homeowners who are already struggling, so they’re doing what they can to lessen the burden. There are no fees for the associated permitting required for cleanup, it appears no waste profiling of the waste debris will be required for disposal beyond completion of an asbestos survey, no soil sampling is required at completion of the cleanup, and there is a $2,000 disposal voucher for West Central Landfill which will be given to homeowners who had 50% or greater damage to a residential structure.  The process is essentially to have an asbestos survey done on the structures lost in the wildfire, submit a demolition permit application to Shasta County – and a National Emissions Standard for Hazardous Air Pollutants (NESHAP) notification in some instances – obtain your $2,000 disposal voucher to West Central Landfill, dispose of all ash, debris and any contaminated soil, and retain any disposal documentation. You should then be cleared to pursue a building permit.