JACKSON CO., Or.- Jackson County Emergency Operations held a press conference earlier today to discuss updates on fire cleanup and re-housing concerns. Organizers took the opportunity to also remind people of important upcoming deadlines.
Emergency housing is beginning to enter its second phase as FEMA looks for semi-permanent housing to hold people for six to 18 months. Right now, over 100 RV’s are being transported to the Expo grounds to help with this type of housing.
As far as the fire clean up, 582 of the 640 properties that have filled out a right of entry form have been cleaned up.
Following the phase one clean-up, the county will be assisted by the state to begin phase two, which is the clean up of ash and trash on damaged property. EOC Director John Vial says the EPA hazardous clean up teams will start leaving town this Friday.
“They are going to leave some forces here so as we get additional right of entry forms trickling in, we’ll be able to clean those sites but at some point they will leave town and this service will be lost,” Vial said. He also explained that even if you are fully insured and don’t want the service, it’s still recommended to fill out a ROE form to opt out so they can know who is not interested.
Overall FEMA assistance applications are due by November 4th and the disaster unemployment application deadline has been extended to November 27th.
The press conference also covered some updates on the Greenway, which is quickly being worked on to prevent damaging run-off when it begins to rain. Over 100 volunteers have worked on the Greenway, spreading hay and protective materials, but John Vial says it is a major project and encourages people to reach out the Jackson County Parks to see how they can help.
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