Local officials are still pushing for additional state and federal help with costs for cleaning up after the Nov. 7 hangar fire in Tustin. Both the city and the county extended their emergency proclamations on Tuesday.
City leaders have been frustrated with the speed at which the Navy, which owns the hangar and the surrounding site, has moved in committing money. The Navy has so far agreed to give the city $11 million, while the city has incurred $54.1 million in contractor costs for disaster response and cleanup efforts, according to a letter from Nicole Bernard, the acting city manager.
Officials from the service have said multiple times it fully intends to pay for remediation efforts, but the process takes time.
Tuesday’s votes by the Tustin City Council and the OC Board of Supervisors extend calls for Gov. Gavin Newsom to issue a proclamation to get disaster aid.
“I can tell you that we are very frustrated,” Tustin Mayor Austin Lumbard said. “The city didn’t hesitate to take action on behalf of the Navy when the fire broke out. It’s long past time for the governor to step up, and ultimately the Navy to do the same and let us know when we will be fully reimbursed and made whole.”
Lumbard said city officials met with the state’s Office of Emergency Services on Dec. 18 and were told the agency viewed a state of emergency as unnecessary since the Navy was identified as a responsible party. Lumbard said there have been other incidents where a financially responsible party had been identified, such as the Huntington Beach oil spill, and the governor still issued a proclamation.
At one point, in the first week after the fire began, Cal OES told the county’s Emergency Management Division director, Michelle Anderson, that the 10 Freeway fire in Los Angeles County that occurred on Nov. 11 was taking precedence, according to county records obtained.
Bernard, in a Dec. 29 letter to the Cal OES Director Nancy Ward, said the city faces the risk…
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