LAKE COUNTY, Calif. – North Coast Opportunities said it is continuing to raise funds to assist Sulphur fire survivors, who can apply for assistance through the end of November.
The Sulphur fire in Clearlake and Clearlake Oaks, managed along with the Redwood fire as the Mendocino Lake Complex, was fully contained at 2,207 acres as of Oct. 26, as Lake County News has reported. It burned 168 structures, including 136 homes.
Within hours of the fires breaking out, North Coast Opportunities, or NCO, reopened its Fire Relief Fund.
This is the third year that NCO has stepped up to provide immediate financial relief for fire survivors, and it is using the same process to collect, review and approve applications that it developed in response to the 2015 Valley fire and fine-tuned during the 2016 Clayton fire.
As the ash settles and people begin to take stock of their lives, many survivors are facing financial hardship as they start the long process of replacing what was lost.
The fire relief fund will help with those immediate needs, as well as long-term needs that are only starting to take focus.
The fund has so far raised around $55,000 for the Sulphur fire, according to NCO spokeswoman Elizabeth Archer.
Business and private sponsorships are covering administrative fees, enabling 100 percent of the funds raised to go to those affected by the fires, NCO reported.
The agency said priority is given to those with total loss, after which applicants with partial loss and evacuation costs will be considered.
The deadline to apply to the fire relief fund is Thursday, Nov. 30.
Only as much money as is raised can be distributed, said NCO Executive Director Patty Bruder. “We are advocating for Lake County every day, in every conversation we have with potential funders and donors.”
Redwood Credit Union Community Foundation also is directing a sizable amount of money toward the Fire Relief Fund.
Applications are already being reviewed and approved, and the first checks for $1,000 will be sent to applicants with total loss using Redwood Credit Union Community Foundation funds next week.
Funds also will be used toward long-term relief, NCO reported.
After the Valley and Clayton fires, NCO partnered with other organizations to provide rental assistance and gap financing. Those partnerships continue today, and will last until the long process of recovery is complete.
“NCO will continue to do what we can to help our communities recover and rebuild,” Bruder said.
Please call NCO’s Fire Information line at 707-467-3236 for more information.
Fire Relief Fund offers assistance to Sulphur fire survivors
- LAKE COUNTY NEWS REPORTS
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