Lake Elsinore city leaders express gratitude at first meeting after Holy fire
Eight days after the Holy fire broke out, the Lake Elsinore City Council convened for the first time Tuesday, Aug. 14, to hear the latest about the firefighting efforts and thank first responders.
Geoff Pemberton, a Riverside County Fire Department division chief, shared the latest facts about the fire including that about 1,300 personnel are still involved in firefighting efforts. He also refused to refer to the arson suspect Forrest Gordon Clark by name.
“I don’t want to give him that gratitude for the devastation we are all experiencing,” he said.
After Pemberton finished his presentation, everyone in the room clapped and gave him a standing ovation.
More than 30 residents attending the meeting at Lake Elsinore Cultural Center. A handful spoke during public comments to comment on the blaze.
In council comments, Mayor Pro Tem Steve Manos said he received a call last week from a former Lake Elsinore resident living in Idaho who offered to drive more than 12 hours to bring a horse trailer for evacuees.
“This community really did pull it together,” Manos said.
Councilman Daryl Hickman thanked Pemberton and his staff.
“You guys did a phenomenal job,” he said. “We’re extremely proud of you.”
The council also adopted a resolution 5-0 formally proclaiming a local emergency, which paves the way for the city to potentially get reimbursed for some of the fire-related costs it incurred over the last week. Staff overtime and cleanup costs are examples of costs that can be repaid, said Nicole Dailey, assistant to the city manager.
Much of the council came together Thursday, Aug. 9, when members appeared at a community meeting to update residents on firefighting efforts. Mayor Natasha Johnson was unable to attend because her family had to evacuate.
The nearly 23,000-acre blaze, which was 64 percent contained as of Tuesday evening, led to thousands leaving their homes in the fire zone including neighborhoods in the Lake Elsinore and Corona areas. At times last week the flames got within hundreds of feet of some homes.
The fire caused all 24 schools in the Lake Elsinore Unified School District to delay the first day of school from Monday, Aug. 13, to Monday, Aug. 20. Some Corona-Norco Unified schools also pushed back the first day of school to Aug. 20.
Faced with six felony charges including arson and making criminal threats in connection with the Holy fire, Clark, 51, appeared in court Friday, Aug. 10, and called the charges against him a “lie.”
Clark, who owns a cabin in the Holy Jim community in Orange County near where the fire broke out, refused to leave his jail cell a day earlier. An arraignment and a bail review hearing.has been set for Friday, Aug. 17.