The OC Board of Supervisors on Tuesday, April 8, approved paying $9.5 million to settle multiple Airport fire claims.
A $3 million settlement approved is set to go to one family, and the remaining $6.5 million will be dispersed to six individual claimants. The board voted on the settlement in closed session so there was no public discussion of the claims.
Orange County’s risk management department is sifting through more than 2,000 filings as claims come in before the deadline seeking reimbursement for a variety of physical and emotional damages. The filings include duplicate forms and multiple claims for some of the same properties, so the official count is unknown at this point.
Filings recorded so far have ranged from $100 million to the cost of a night or two in a hotel during evacuations.
The fire began on Sept. 9, sweeping through 23,526 acres between Orange and Riverside counties, and burning for 26 days. An OC Public Works crew using heavy machinery to move boulders in tinder-dry Trabuco Canyon sparked the flame. The crew failed to follow department “best practices” and bring a water truck for fire suppression, according to county documents.
It is unclear how much in total has already been paid out by the county in settlements. A county spokesperson previously said the county had paid about $1.6 million as of March 15.
In January, Orange County’s interim CEO warned department heads and leaders to limit spending and find areas of savings given slowing revenues, but also because of the potential for Airport fire litigation to possibly cost “hundreds of millions of dollars.”
According to CalFire, the Airport fire destroyed 160 structures — which includes homes, sheds, vehicles and such — and damaged 34 others.
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