Weather radios to be distributed to Lake County fire survivors

If more of the potentially dangerous w eather conditions that can accompany El Niño arrive, Lake County fire survivors should be prepared.

Efforts are underway to equip them with radios that broadcast emergency weather alerts from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and local public safety agencies, a project aimed at ensuring those living in burned-out areas won’t be endangered by flash floods and landslides.

The radios will provide an important safety net if deluges often linked to El Niño materialize, Lake County Supervisor Rob Brown said.

“It’s a big deal if we get the kind of weather we expect,” he said.

The effort is being launched with a $10,000 donation from the insurance provider State Farm. Based on a range of online prices for NOAA radios, that should buy about 200 units. County and federal officials plan to eventually distribute 3,000 radios, according to Sevag Sarkissian, a State Farm spokesman.

Three fires last fall blackened 170,623 acres in Lake County. The Valley fire alone destroyed almost 2,000 structures, including 1,281 homes and 27 multifamily structures as it tore through 76,067 acres of southern Lake County in September, making it the third-most damaging fire in California history.

Even those whose homes did not burn are facing increased danger from mudslides and flash flooding because the fire denuded much of the surrounding landscape.

Cellphone coverage in many of the devastated areas already is tenuous and heavy rains could knock out land-based phone lines and damage cell towers, Brown said. In addition, some people in temporary housing don’t yet have land lines.

“We don’t want to rely on any one system and have it fail,” Brown said.

“These weather radios will greatly improve our ability to communicate critical information to survivors impacted by this unprecedented disaster,”said Carol Hutchingson, who heads the Lake County Valley Fire Long-Term Recovery Task Force. “We are so pleased to have State Farm step up as a partner to fund this important project.”

Other details about the radios were not available Friday from the Lake County Sheriff’s Office, which is charged with deciding which models to purchase. County officials are scheduled to accept the $10,000 check from State Farm on Tuesday.

You can reach Staff Writer Glenda Anderson at 462-6473 or glenda.anderson@pressdemocrat.com. On Twitter @MendoReporter.