Monterey County details cost of Soberanes Fire

Monterey County’s Resource Management Agency (RMA) said the Soberanes Fire will cost Monterey County at least $11 million. RMA Director Carl Holm addressed the Board of Supervisors on Tuesday, discussing what is made up that preliminary figure.

Personnel costs are about $1 million right now, but the direct damage and future threats of erosion and flood events are coming in around $10 million.

According to the staff report, Palo Colorado, Coast Road, Carmel Valley Road and Tassajara Road all need repairs because of the fire.

“So what we’ve done so far is we’ve gone through, post-fire, and cleared a lot of trees that have burned and could potentially cause a hazard to the roadways,” Holm said. ” But now what happens is because there’s no vegetation to hold it, boulders will roll onto the roadways. There’s a lot of loose top soil from the ash that will flow from heavier flows. That can plug culverts and drains and once they plug, then they have other impacts as far as, where does the water go and they dam up, backup and potentially impact roads, could wash out roads if we don’t go out there and maintain them.”

Toro Park, which served as base camp for upwards of 5,000 fire personnel, is still closed. The Parks Department is making repairs to the county park now that personnel and equipment has been removed. Some of those repairs include replacing broken sprinkler heads, fixing plumbing in the bathrooms and rebuilding fences.

Toro Park is expected to open portions of the park within the next week, with some trails, campgrounds and barbecue areas reopen.