The 2018 wildfire season was the deadliest and most destructive wildfire season ever recorded in California, with more than 8500 wildfires burning nearly 1.9 million acres. Insurance claims reached historic levels surpassing $12 billion.
From July to August 2018, a series of large wildfires erupted across California, mostly in the northern part of the state, including the Carr and Mendocino Complex Fires. In November 2018, strong winds aggravated conditions in another round of destructive fires. This new batch of wildfires included the Woolsey Fire and the Camp Fire, which killed at least 85 people and destroyed more than 18,000 structures, becoming both California’s deadliest and most destructive wildfire on record.
To support the recovery effort, the California Department of Housing and Community Development (CA HCD) received $1,017,399,000 of CDBG-DR funds, distributed by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) as a result of two federally-declared disasters from the wildfires and high wind events in 2018.
[image src=”/assets/4abe0ef08a/CALI.png” id=”33973″ width=”248″ height=”418″ class=”right ss-htmleditorfield-file image” title=”CALI” alt=”CA 2018 CDBG-DR Action Plan”]In January2020, CA HCD selected the Tidal Basin Group to support developing the 2018 California Wildfires Community Development Block Grant-Disaster Recovery (CDBG-DR) Action Plan. On Wednesday July 8, 2020 the State released the Draft 2018 CDBG-DR Action Plan for public review and comment. Several public virtual meetings targeting the impacted jurisdictions will be held to allow for public review and comment including:
- Shasta County on July 21, 2020
- Lake County on July 22, 2020
- Los Angeles and Ventura Counties on July 23, 2020
This is an important step in the process for the State of California to gain access to these critical disaster recovery funds. The Draft Action Plan will be available for public review and comment through August 12, 2020. The public is encouraged to review the Draft Action Plan and submit comments to HCD. At the end of the public comment period, HCD will review and respond to all comments and submit the final Draft Action Plan to HUD for review and approval by August 31, 2020.
