Fires in Northern California

[mpallamary]

I wanted to reach out to the surveying community to check in on anyone up north who might be affected by the wildfires in case they need any help. Let me know.

[mpallamary]

Has anyone heard from Howard Brunner? I think he is in the fire zone.

[TTaylor]

Howard has been posting updates on FB about the damage and the heroes that are fighting the fire.

[TTaylor]

I recall several years ago that after a big fire down south that CLSA wanted to advertise land surveying services for rebuilding purposes. That smacked of being opportunistic in the face of tragedy. I'm suggesting for consideration that CLSA look into banding surveyors together through CLSA to provide surveying for free or at a greatly reduced price to those that have lost so much. That would be a great humanitarian act and a good way to show the whole community the value of surveyors and possibly lead others to do the same. Just a thought

[mpallamary]

After the fires in the high mountains of San Diego, I served as a committee with the County of San Diego wherein we worked together to help homeowners. I, and the other members did the work pro bono. We have done this down south.

[TTaylor]

Excellent, Mike. An example to be followed IMO, possibly through CLSA.

[mpallamary]

That would be nice. The biggest problem we had was dealing with the insurance companies and moving forward. In Julian, there were a lot of problems with septic systems as the fields and lines were often on neighboring properties. When the homeowners went to rebuild, the insurance companies wanted septic permits for the rebuilds and working with the County, we developed some rules of exemption and made some adjustments. It was a nightmare but we got through it. I would be glad to help if the folks up north need any help. What really needs to be done is for the local surveyors to band together and form an ad-hoc committee this afternoon. As you know, after fires, that is the best time to find old survey markers. The first step would be for a bunch of surveyors to head out - working with the County Surveyor - and look for and flag survey monuments tomorrow. It is important that these be located as soon as possible before demolition occurs as it is likely the contractors will simply plow everything out. If the survey monuments are flagged, they can hopefully work around them. When these homeowners go to rebuild, everything will need to be staked out. The most important thing is to move FAST!

[mpallamary]

This is from an old newsletter here in San Diego from 2004:

"Old Business
-Volunteers are still being sought to assist fire victims in
locating property lines in order to rebuild fences. If you would
like to help, please contact Phil Guirbino at the County."

The association needs to stand up and advance some activity.

file:///C:/Users/mpall_000/Creative%20Cloud%20Files%20(archived)%20(1)/Downloads/03-2004nl.pdf

[David Kendall]

Sure thing guys great idea we’ll take all the free survey help we can get come on up anytime we’ll leave a light on for you. (Try to anyway, my house still had power this morning when I left for work....)

[mpallamary]

Where is the most help needed?

[David Kendall]

Where is the most help needed?

Suburbs to the East and North from Santa Rosa probably have the greatest volume of small lots destroyed. I estimate that one could do the greatest good in the shortest time in that area (especially if one is eager to start this morning). The rest of this region is still an unknown quantity at the moment but the northeast side of Napa will certainly need plenty of help at some point in the future. Firefighters had a very successful day yesterday but we’re not out of the woods yet...

[Jim Dickey]

I appreciate everybody's concern as this has been a major event in the North Bay and as a surveyor in Sonoma County and a Fire Victim I want to let you know that I will be working with the other surveyors in Sonoma County and other areas to help the community rebuild as quickly as possible. To facilitate that we are working with the local, state and federal officials to come up with the best plan to assist the community. We want to ensure that as surveyors we provide the order needed to ensure that the new improvements are built in the correct location while also allowing for the fastest recovery possible.

Thank you again for your concern.

Jim Dickey, PLS
Cinquini & Passarino, Inc.

[mpallamary]

Good luck. If you want to chat, let me know, for as noted, I was on the county's ad-hoc committee after we had the fires in 2003 here in San Diego.
We ran into a number of problems we did not anticipate. On a personal level if you need anything, let me know.

[Tony Cinquini]

Mike,

As we move further into the planning we will definitely reach out to learn some of the problems your committee encountered. Thanks again for the support.

Tony Cinquini, PLS
Cinquini & Passarino, Inc.

[mpallamary]

Sounds good. One thing you should consider is, if the county or state has restricted access into the area, to get permission as soon as possible before they start tearing everything up.

God luck.

[mpallamary]

Well good luck but I guess God luck works too!

[TTaylor]

Thumbs up, Jim and Tony! All hands on deck is the order of the day while respecting those that have lost so much.

I, for one, am willing to contribute towards the cause in any way that helps.

[land butcher]

As Mike says, the most important thing is to get in there and find and flag any existing mons before the dozers arrive.

I wish you the best, not much I can do from So Cal.

[David Kendall]

Thumbs up, Jim and Tony! All hands on deck is the order of the day while respecting those that have lost so much.

I, for one, am willing to contribute towards the cause in any way that helps.

I suggest you go buy two bundles of lathes and six rolls of flagging and drive up there and mark some corners if you feel so strongly about it. I'm happy to show up and help you do it if you're serious. I'll meet you out at Coffey Park on Sunday afternoon at 1:00pm. I don't see why CLSA has to be involved or what has to be planned or coordinated with the county or any of that jazz. If you see a need and you want to volunteer to help then have at it.

[Peter Ehlert]

FYI, the Santa Rosa fire is still growing.
More family and friends were evacuated before dawn today.

[Tony Cinquini]

Posted at the request of Dan Langley, Sonoma County Chapter Vice President:

Mike et. al.,

First we would like to express our deepest sympathies to victims of this unprecedented tragedy.

Thank you for your concern regarding the ongoing tragedy in Sonoma, Napa, Mendocino and Solano Counties. The fires are of an unimaginable scope, and have affected a wide range of our community from civic leaders, to business heads, to project managers, to field crews, to administrative staff. No one in the Sonoma and Napa counties will be unaffected by this tragedy.

As a member of the Sonoma County Chapter Executive Committee we have been actively discussing the best way to service our affected members and the community, and ask people to please donate to the Redwood Credit Union Fire Relief Fund, or the American Red Cross. This tragedy is so widespread that there is no fair way to fundraise and distribute funds on our own, and we ask people to utilize the two wonderful organizations that are already working to help those affected in our community.

In regard to monuments and the road ahead, it will be a long one. Fires are still burning, people are still being evacuated and there is no need to recover monuments today or tomorrow. Right now we need to stay out of the way of the wonderful men and women fighting these fires. Fire, police and the national guard are racing around the counties trying to ensure we have homes and businesses to return to, and we need to stay out of their way!

When the time is right, surveyors will be called into action and I am personally excited to have the opportunity to put my skills to work rebuilding the community I love. Obviously, there will need to be coordination, and education. We will need to educate our staff on how to safely work in these areas. We will need to educate the community on what to expect. We will need to coordinate with county personnel to find ways to best serve those affected, and we will need to find ways to help those without the means to help themselves. While there are many unknowns, I know that members of CLSA will be there when asked. From personal experience I know that there is good communication between our county surveyors and the survey community, and good communication between the county surveyors themselves. There are many challenges ahead but I have faith our survey community and county surveyors are up to the task.

Thank you for all your your words of support, and please go donate to the Redwood Credit Union Fire Relief Fund or American Red Cross!

https://www.redwoodcu.org/

https://www.redcross.org/donate/disaste ... AQodnFMLnA

Thank You,

Daniel Langley, PLS 9380
VP Sonoma County Chapter

[TTaylor]

Thanks, Dave,

Have a nice day.

[mpallamary]

Good luck and let us know how we can help!

[Stephen Johnson]

Trying to find out if John Monahan, PLS 6122 in Rohnert Park is ok. Lost his number and email address a few years back.

[LS_8750]

Let's shove a hundred Home Depots up into the local hardware store's ass, that's probably what Mr. Kendall is talking about.

He has a point.

As for help, I could use some help sweeping the ashes off my desk, maybe also some hope that the local coffeeshop wifi will have strength for me to talk with my file storage.

Surveyor CAT response. Nice. Somewhere that exists. Not presently localized to California tho. Hint.

The insurance industry doesn't move that fast. The burn properties, the evidence, belongs to the insurance companies until they release the site to the owner.

Here we have a surveyor's right of entry in conflict with the insurance company's securement of the site for their purposes. The insurance company wins unless you want to risk spoliation of the fire related evidence.