Community remains without power over a month after neighbor’s home catches fire
Some people living in a country club in Thousand Palms have been without electricity for over a month after a home burned down in their neighborhood and knocked out power.
“That day, there was a 40 mile an hour wind out here and embers flying and it was just really scary,” said Diana Hayden, a resident of the Tri Palm Estates left without power.
The fire on April 29 destroyed an electrical panel.
“We came into the house, and we don’t have power,” Hayden said.
Hayden said she and four other neighbors are stuck replacing the electrical panel which will cost them about $11,000. To make matters worse, Hayden says that piece of equipment won’t be shipped and delivered until June 20.
Hayden says the Red Cross gave each neighbor impacted a ‘one time’ $245 check to help with immediate needs, unfortunately it’s not enough to cover the damage.
The property manager for the Tri Palm Estates said he’s only in charge of the amenities at the country club, like the golf course and swimming pool, not the homes on property.
We reached out to representatives with Riverside County to see if the Housing Authority could help the resident. The representative said, “The Housing Authority doesn’t have a program for this type of repair.”
The Imperial Irrigation District supplies power to the country club. An IID representative wrote in a statement regarding the country club outage;
“IID does sympathize with our customers under these difficult and unfortunate circumstances. The district has completed the necessary repairs to the equipment that it is responsible to provide and maintain, (replacing the transformer and cross arms) at this site. IID stands ready to provide power once the panel is replaced, inspected and approved.”
“You would think as your electric company, would be someone that would step up when you’re in a situation like this, they would be the first, but no,” Hayden said.
A neighbor launched a GoFundMe page to help those who are paying for the unexpected repairs, including the $11,000 for equipment. Click here if you would like to donate.
“It’s not in the budget. We’re a senior community, we’re all kind of living on fixed incomes. You don’t expect to be hit like this, we’re under the gun to come up with this money,” Hayden said.
