County Conversations: Second District Supervisor Michelle Bushnell

Lauren Schmitt: In this edition of county conversations, our monthly check in with Humboldt County Supervisors, we speak with Michelle Bushnell, who represents Humboldt’s Second District. This district includes cities and unincorporated towns along the 101 corridor from Benbow to Fortuna, and stretches east to west, from Bridgeville to Shelter Cove. Supervisor Bushnell is actively addressing a range of critical issues affecting her district, but tonight, we’re focusing on the current response to fires in homeless camps in Southern Humboldt.

Good afternoon, Supervisor Bushnell, and thank you for joining us again on KMUD News. As I just mentioned, there have been an increase in calls for service related to a particular homeless camp in Redway, and you recently organized a meeting to address the concerns of residents. Can you share an overview?

Supervisor Bushnell: Sure. So I did organize the meeting – I had the two fire chiefs from Garberville and Redway, Tim Tietz and and Seth, Chief Ayers, there, along with code enforcement, John Ford – Director Ford, and Dean Beck, and I had DHHS there, Connie Beck, and the sheriff there… as well as myself. And we started out with a conversation about what’s it look like for responses from those two departments – how many times have they went in there? And then kind of diving down into, what can we do?

So, these fires have been prominent on the north end of Redway, in fact, there was one yesterday, a small one yesterday. But this is a private land owner that owns a large section of the upper portion of Redway that has about five prominent homeless camps on there, that have been there for 20-30 years, [it’s] been a long time.

And what can we do?

How do we control, first of all, the fires? Because it’s very scary, and as it has been intensifying with larger fires, and [the] immediate threat to Redway, and the Garberville area …with the homeless camps in Garberville. So we came up with a plan. Code Enforcement went in the day before and surveyed all the camps on the north end and talked with the landowner. [They’re] going to be working with that landowner to see how he’s willing to, first of all, clean up the camps and to get the people out of there. And that’s where DHHS and the sheriff come in. The problem is those folks are homeless, and they’re going to relocate to somewhere else. And so, does that mean they’re going to relocate on the streets of Redway or the streets of Garberville, or move to Bear Creek Canyon camp, or, the camps over by Sprowl Creek?

And so moving people doesn’t fix the problem. It might fix that problem for the north end of Redway and the fires that are happening there, but there’s still the problem out there. So, …it’s not easily solved in one meeting. And folks don’t have to be relocated to a service area, which would be Eureka, or try to find housing.

It’s not against the law to be homeless.

So, we’re still going to talk about what do we do with these people, now. We estimate about 40 people in those camps in the north end of Redway, and so, right now, the direction is to get them out of there, [to] get all the garbage cleaned up, and we anticipate, long-term, six months for that to happen. We really hope that is attainable within two months.

Lauren Schmitt: When we first covered this story, we highlighted the efforts of SHO, the southern Humboldt Housing Opportunities to establish a safe camp in Garberville for people experiencing homelessness. These sanctioned encampments provide temporary shelter with fewer barriers to entry, offering a safer and more sanitary environment. Is this something you support, and do you believe this could be a meaningful solution? Or does addressing homelessness in Southern Humboldt require a larger, more comprehensive effort?

Supervisor Bushnell: Yes, I support a safe camp. But not every homeless person is going to want to be in a safe camp, or follow the rules in a safe camp. Because you still have to have rules, or you get unorderly things happening. And one thing, ..people, whether they’re homeless or not, there is drug addiction, mental health, and alcoholism that happen with folks. And so you you have to have order in a safe camp for it to be valuable, and for it to work for the people living there. And so I think that, yes, that’ll work for some, but not everybody is going to utilize that.

And so it’s a bigger picture of what we can do. And you know, not everybody’s going to like the solution… some people are going to go to jail, if that’s what they choose, and they choose not to relocate or utilize the system, then you’re going to get a ride to the jail. And not everybody …likes those options, but at this point, we’re having way too much activity in the homeless camps that are affecting the rest of the population in the Southern Humboldt area.

And so it really is down to, we have to do something.

Lauren Schmitt: In addition to the fire risks at homeless camps, the Humboldt-Del Norte Unit of CAL FIRE has also seen an increase in calls responding to fires at cannabis farms. Is this another concern you’re looking at?

Supervisor Bushnell: Well, so when you say cannabis farm, are you talking about [a] legal cannabis farm or an illegal cannabis [farm]?

Lauren Schmitt: There have been fires at both licensed and unlicensed farms. I know on October 2, a fire in the Dinsmore area was linked to a cannabis farm, and the cultivation permit for that site has since been tabled. And additionally, our understanding is that one of the various fires on the Wood Ranch also originated on a licensed cannabis farm.

Supervisor Bushnell: First of all, I’m not aware of any fires on legal farms. So if the farm in Dinsmore is in the process of of legalization, that doesn’t sound like it’s a legal farm. Also on the Wood Ranch, I’m not aware that there was a cannabis farm up there that had a fire. I am aware of illegal cultivation sites that have had fires in their drying sheds. As this happens often, …when you’re kind of hiding, and that has happened. So the solution, I think, is, you know, licensed farms have are much more restrictive and have guidelines. And that’s why you’re not seeing fires on licensed farms because you can’t just put a propane tank there and not have it secured… for drying. Or run a generator without having it enclosed in a container, and so forth, and so on.

Oftentimes, those fires are happening from propane tanks with Mr. Heater heads on them, or generators that their exhaust is getting into the… they’re hiding that generator, and so the exhaust is heating up, maybe grass, and it’s sparking that way. And so I think, first of all, the licensed farms have strict guidelines and that has helped a lot the fire activities with cannabis farms. And then secondly, encouraging folks, just by word of mouth, …to be safer. But also, I know the sheriff has been …going out and getting unlicensed farms, and hopefully that will help that situation.

And most fires are started by people, and so being aware that there’s a fire risk… the fires in the homeless camps mostly are started by cooking fires, and they get out of control and and become larger fires, like we’ve seen in the last month. And so just …education to the homeless – maybe getting them some resources that aren’t open fires for cooking, [and] having fire extinguishers in those camps.

Also, just with the general public, letting people know we’re not okay with this behavior. If you’re going to dry your weed, don’t have an open flame five feet away from your weed in a shed that’s going to ignite. And because fires… we’ve seen all through California and other states… it devastates. And our resources, which is our volunteer fire departments, are exhausted. It’s late in the year. It’s October. It was 100 degrees the other day, and they responded, in three weeks, to four fires in Redway. They respond to a large fire on the Wood Ranch. They responded to another fire on the Hanson ranch. And so resources are really drained, and we as a community just need to say, ‘Be aware of your surroundings. Don’t create a situation where you’re going to start a fire.’

Lauren Schmitt: Again, that was Supervisor Michelle Bushnell speaking in our monthly check in – County Conversations. Following our interview KMUD News spoke with a Cal Fire Del Norte Unit Battalion Chief, who confirmed that their agency has been responding to fires at both licensed and unlicensed cannabis farms. The chief urged everyone to use caution, especially with extension cords and fans during harvest season. For more safety tips you can visit ready for wildfire.org.

Note: This audio script was altered slightly for reading ease.