An NV5 principal engineer was retained by the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE)/California Governor’s Office of Emergency Services (Cal OES) as a volunteer to assist with emergency relief services after the Camp Fire (2018).
The Camp Fire was recorded as the deadliest fire in California history, and the deadliest U.S. fire in 100 years. More than 153,000 acres burned in Butte County; more than 14,000 homes and 4,800 other structures in the town of Paradise were impacted.
Specifically, we served for 4 days on a team of 25 California engineers and architects tasked with determining the structural integrity of commercial and residential buildings affected by the fire. Buildings were issued either a red (completely destructed), yellow (short-term occupancy allowed), or green (return to occupancy allowed) tag.
This work involved hazardous conditions such as intense smoke, unreinforced masonry buildings, structural steel, tree hazards, septic tank failures, and burned still-standing telephone poles.