Northbay Fires Day 11
Asquared survives the fires and volunteers to aid in relief
We are now on day 11 of the largest wildfire in California history. As of today, many of the fires are contained to a high percentage allowing many to return to their evacuated neighborhoods. Over the last 11 days many of the residents of the Northbay have had no choice but to operate their lives simply one hour at a time. The same has held true for Asquared Studios Santa Rosa. Jessie has been spending her days volunteering at designated relief centers, checking on safety, and caring for and hosting displaced families.
In addition, Jessie has been volunteering at the LAC (Local Assistance Center) in Santa Rosa, which is a remarkable assembly of community services brought together in one common location so that the victims of the fire have a “one stop shopping” center to re-build their lives. There people are able to replace birth certificates, drivers licenses, marriage licenses, tax paperwork, and talk to professionals from city and county services and utilities. Trader Joe’s has donated shopping bags to help people keep track of all of the documents they will now carry around with them until they can restore some normalcy to their lives. Sitting in as a Santa Rosa Architect offering advice to those who have lost their homes, Jessie has answered questions about the cost of re-building, the process of working with an architect, how to interact with the city and county agencies, and has generally provided a shoulder to lean on for those who have never been through the building process before. As Architects the education we provide to the general public and our own clients alike is one off the greatest contributions that we can make to our community. Please, if you know someone who is in need of re-assembling their life and home, send them to the LAC, located at the Press Democrat Building on Mendocino Avenue.
We have also been involved in discussions with our local chapter of the AIA known as the AIARE. Please know that our professional organization is working diligently to be a strong advocate for our communities to guide the re-building process and offer professional advice to those in need. Several members have been involved in fire destruction recovery in the recent past, so we are able to learn from those experiences and provide better and more accurate information relative to the current needs. All of us will be working with both the city of Santa Rosa Economic Development Department, the Sonoma County Permit and Resource Management Department, and the Napa County Building Division to understand what expedited services they will be providing for all of our planning and building permitting needs.
A new map describing the devastation to structures themselves has been released. To grasp the magnitude of destruction that we will be dealing with please feel free to click the link provided below.
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