 I'm Brian May in our Cal OES studio. We've still been getting a lot of questions from you about the right of entry forms that need to be signed before the state can come on and remove debris from your property that's been affected by the recent wildfires. A lot of questions still concern who you talk to if you're not sure what these right of entry forms are, where you go to get them, and why is there now a deadline in order for you to sign them? Well, this morning I had a chance to talk to Mark Gillarducci, the director of Cal OES, and he has some very clear and precise answers about the ROE process, how it works, who you talk to if you have questions about them, and who you absolutely should talk to before you sign these forms. Very clear answers that will help a lot of you with your questions. Here's our interview with Mark Gillarducci. Mark, first of all, thanks for joining us. You've been at this a long time. Describe to me now where we are in this very long recovery process. Yeah, good morning. So the big focus has been, of course, shortly after the fires were contained, was to get a good handle on not just the number of people that were impacted, but really what their needs were gonna be. So we've actually approached this in a few phases. The first phase, of course, was trying to get people into immediate shelters and then ultimately into some temporary rentals and or other kinds of maybe mobile homes or mobile shelters. And that's been moving forward. The other phase was, of course, to start to get the community cleaned up. And that was really to get this debris operation, debris removal operation started. That's been underway for some time now, last few weeks. It starts off with going out and removing all the household hazardous waste. We're talking hazardous materials, propane, pesticides, paints, other chemicals. And that's been a concerted effort and a partnership effort between the Department of Toxic Subjects Control, which is a state agency and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. And we've split the counties that have been impacted up for the various agencies to go in and do that. And that's really the first phase and that's been going very, very well. We've actually are ahead of schedule with regards to cleaning up the household hazardous waste. And that's really key because once you get that household hazardous waste cleaned up, it clears the way for the debris removal teams to come in and remove all of that fire debris with the intent to get the lot cleaned and cleared and hazard-free so that it can be ready to build on. And of course, to get that process going, there's a requirement that each homeowner sign a right of entry agreement that allows the government to go in and begin to remove that debris from their respective property. And those right of entry forms, what we call ROEs, are very critical. And what we did is we set the date of November the 13th as the date to really get those ROEs in. And that's an important date because, and that's an important action because it really does focus everyone in being able to get those signed and allows us to get that debris operation in a comprehensive way moving forward. It's really important that the sooner we can get the debris cleared from these lots, the faster we can begin the recovery process within the community. People can feel like they're beginning the recovery process. There is action taking place. We are moving forward. And we are very cognizant that we are entering into winter. This is going to be a factor. So we're trying to move as expeditiously as possible to get this program started and get as many of these lots cleared. And of course, we have set a metric with the debris contract teams to be able to get these lots cleared by early 2018. And it's a combination effort between state agency CalRecycle, part of the California Environmental Protection Agency and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, which we have tasked them through our partners at the Federal Emergency Management Agency. Hundreds have signed the ROE, the Rite of Entry Forms. For those that are still debating, should I sign this form or try and get my lot cleaned up on my own? Can you talk to that and why the ROEs are important? Yeah, I mean, you know, look, the first line of defense and that anybody should do is once you have a case like this, is you need to call your insurance company and you need to make contact with your insurance adjuster and have them let you know what your insurance covers. Some cases, people have insurance in their policy, a debris removal portion that will allow for them to hire a private contractor to come in and remove the debris from their property and their insurance will cover the cost. We have no problem with that and that is everyone's right to do that and we encourage you to do that as soon as possible. We know that there are a lot of insured homeowners in the fire area, but in many cases, we find that people are either underinsured, I should say, or they don't include a debris portion of their policy or the third option is that the debris portion of their policy is very low and the cost to clean up would exceed. So what your first line of action should be is to check with your insurance company. If you don't have insurance or you're underinsured or you choose to go to the state program, this is at no charge to you, the homeowner, and it allows us to come in and we will do all of this debris removal operation. It's done in a comprehensive way. We make sure that your lot is certified, clean and safe by state environmental protection standards and it's one of these situations where you, if you're lost your home, you're focusing on rebuilding your life, your records, trying to work through the impacts of this, allowing us to come in and clean that debris in one fell swoop. It's really better for you and it's better for the community at large in that it is really the most rapid way of doing it. And if you do have a little insurance, if you have insurance proceeds that are directly attributed to debris, the state does work with your insurance company to recoup those specific costs for the debris to help offset the cost. So even if you have insurance and you have a debris piece of that policy, the state can still come in. After you sign your right of entry form, we can still come in and do that work and then we will work with your insurance company to recoup just the portion that are associated with debris. You mentioned encouraging people to talk to their insurance agents. People whose houses have burned during these fires have a lot of questions. So aside from talking to insurance agents, I know you've set up centers around the infected areas or impacted areas for people who have questions to go to these local assistance centers. Can you talk about just getting out and asking questions? Yeah, that's really important. There's several things a way we're trying to get the message out to people. The first is that there has been, since shortly after the fire, local assistance centers set up in your community. These are centers that include local, state and federal, maybe some non-governmental organizations that allow you to go in and sit with those various state, local and federal agencies to talk about all of the various aspects that are required that you, you know, I mean, who knows really what to do if you lose your home in a catastrophic way. These folks are there to sit and sit with you and walk you through the process. The other important thing is, is that this is a major disaster declaration by the president. We encourage you to register with FEMA. Even if you're insured, please register with FEMA and get into the process. You may receive a letter that says that you're an eligible, but if you look below the eligible portion, there are a number of bullet points that you're gonna wanna come back to FEMA. The average is three or four times when you're working with FEMA to be able to work through all these things because once you determine what your insurance covers and doesn't cover, FEMA again can come in and assist you in some way. So it's important that you go to the Local Assistance Center and you register with FEMA and you sit with all of the different state and local agencies that can help you work through it. There's also agencies that are there that will immediately rebuild your records, provide a new license, give you new auto registration. There's people from the Franchise Tax Board and other IRS to be able to deal with your lost records. The other thing is once the Local Assistance Center's closed, FEMA continues on with these assistance centers that will be in the community for the long-term. They're called disaster recovery centers and they're being stood up throughout all of the communities that have been impacted by the fire now so that those long-term centers will be a one-stop shop for you to go in and sit with FEMA and the other state agencies and talk about what your needs are. Mark, I know you've been out in the communities almost nonstop since the fires began. You've met with state, local, federal officials. You've been at community meetings all the time. What are you hearing from people and how are you answering those questions? Well, you know, I mean, rightfully so, people are, this is a traumatic event. It's hard. I had family that was evacuated and impacted by this disaster. This is beyond professional. It's personal. We have a number of people that are here in the state operations center or have responded to the field. Many of some of our employees have been impacted or lost their homes. We're all in this together. And so we hear the concerns. We have really, and we will continue to lean as forward as possible, attending town hall meetings, providing external information, clarifying any questions that people may have until people don't have any more questions. And that is that through the town hall meetings and through the media outlets, we're trying to get the messages out. But, you know, and we're even working with our partners at FEMA to have teams go out and meet with people where they congregate, shopping centers, churches, other places, schools, to be able to share information and technical data so that they're as informed as possible. Information is key here, and we wanna make people as informed and as empowered as possible to make the right decisions as they move forward. One of the messages that is becoming clear after these fires have now been contained is that the recovery process is moving quicker than it has in many previous natural disasters. Talk about why the speed of this this time. Well, I think that you've got, you know, we've got great partners at FEMA, FEMA Region 9, the administrator and I go back many years. We've managed many disasters. You know, we have, we deal with a lot of disasters in California, unfortunately, kinda hones our skills a little bit. And I think that we know that staying out in front of an evolving crisis like this is really critical. We don't wanna be slow to what the needs are. So we anticipate the needs. We have great partners at the local level. The local community, your local elected leaders, your professional staff, your state elected leaders, and their professional staffs are all working over time. Our federal counterparts at the federal elected leaders. And then the agencies, you know, FEMA has over 20, 22 federal agencies engaged in this. We have the entire state family. This has all been managed by a unified coordination group of the governor's cabinet, all coming together in a one team, one fight effort to ensure that objectives are made and met. So we put metrics in place and we are sticking to those metrics that are measurable each and every day to ensure that we can move forward. And look, we know winter's coming. This is the biggest disaster in loss of structures in totality that we have seen in recent times. And there's no time to sort of dilly-dally on this. We need to work very decisively and we need to move rapidly to get our community back out. What our goal is, is to address the needs of the people that have lost, make sure our local communities rebound and the economy gets back operational and that we rebuild in a positive, safe and secure manner. Those are our goals and working together, we'll continue to get there. Mark, thanks for the clarity in your answers in your time this morning. Happy to be here. Thank you.