LAKE COUNTY, Calif. — During a short special Thursday afternoon meeting, the Clearlake City Council got an update on the Boyles fire and voted to ratify a local emergency declaration.

City Manager Alan Flora gave the council a rundown on the fire, which burned 81 acres and led to the evacuation of 4,000 people, with more than 9,000 people being without power at one point.

He said they were able to repopulate nearly all of the fire area — with the exception of a small area by Woodland Community College’s Lake County Campus — as of 7 p.m. Wednesday.

Flora said the fire’s evacuation center, which was set up at Twin Pine Casino in Middletown, closed at 7 a.m. Thursday.

He also gave the council the final damage assessment numbers for the fire:

• 25 completely destroyed dwellings;
• Three damaged dwellings;
• 32 destroyed or damaged accessory buildings;
• 64 buildings damaged or destroyed;
• 79 vehicles were destroyed.

The damage estimate for both public and private property submitted to the California Governor’s Office of Emergency Services on Thursday night totaled $15 million, Flora said.

Flora said the city’s top priority is providing short-term housing for those who have damaged or destroyed homes. He said North Coast Opportunities, which handled case management for short-term housing during the 2021 Cache fire, has received $200,000 from the city to do the same work for this fire.

As of shortly before the Thursday meeting, NCO had served more than 20 people since midday on Wednesday, Flora said.

The next priority, Flora said, is getting the hazardous waste cleanup completed on the lots with damaged homes.

“That's the next thing that really needs to happen before folks have, ultimately, access back to the property,” he said.

Flora said the state Office of Emergency Services has approved that cleanup, now the city is waiting on scheduling from the Department of Toxic Substances Control.

He said the city was told the cleanup won’t happen this week, but he hoped it would happen next week.

In the meantime, Flora said they will stress that people should not be accessing or sifting through debris until the household hazardous waste cleanup is done. He said it’s not expected that there will be any cost to homeowners for that first phase of cleanup.

Flora thanked city employees for their efforts to respond to the situation. The city has a small staff and, unfortunately, it also has experience in these types of incidents.

“I’ve been extraordinarily proud of the response and the commitment to the community that our staff have shown,” Flora said.

He offered a big thank you to the many fire departments that responded to support the city and the various mutual aid partners, including the cities of Lakeport and Ukiah which sent staff, the Lake County Community Development Department and Lake County Sheriff’s Office of Emergency Services Manager Leah Sautelet, who Flora said has been extraordinarily helpful.

City Clerk/Administrative Services Director Melissa Swanson gave a brief report on the plans for a local assistance center, or LAC, which will be set up at the Clearlake Youth Center from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday.

Swanson said they have commitments to have a presence at the LAC from many county departments including the Assessor-Recorder’s Office, In-Home Supportive Services, the Department of Social Services, Cal Fresh, Public Services and Environmental Health, along with Cal OES, the Department of Motor Vehicles, Adventist Health, American Red Cross, Hope City, NCO, Salvation Army and the Lake Area Rotary Club Association.

There also will be religious organizations sending chaplains, gift cards and supplies, Swanson said.

Vice Mayor Joyce Overton asked where people were staying. Flora said the effort has been to get them into hotels. Some also are being placed at the top of waiting lists for affordable housing. There also have been offers for rentals. NCO is working on that housing piece.

“This is a little different situation than the Cache fire,” said Flora, explaining that fire three years ago impacted areas such as mobile home parks where the majority of residents were retirees, and a park property owner was incentivized to rebuild.

In the case of the Boyles fire, Flora said most of those impacted are working class families who had means and accommodations.

At the end of the discussion, Councilman Dirk Slooten moved to ratify the declaration of a local emergency for the fire that Flora, in his capacity as the city’s director of emergency services, issued.

As part of that action, the city is requesting that Gov. Gavin Newsom proclaim a state of emergency in response to the fire, which will help the city with its recovery efforts.

Overton seconded the motion, which was approved 5-0.

The Lake Area Rotary Club Association, or LARCA, which has been active in the recovery for past fires, is now taking donations for the Boyles fire on its website.

Email Elizabeth Larson at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.. Follow her on Twitter, @ERLarson, or Lake County News, @LakeCoNews.