Local leaders step in to help displaced residents in DHS mobile home park fire

Riverside County, state and city leaders are stepping in to help residents who have been displaced after a fire ripped through the Country Squire RV and Mobile Home Park last week.

Supervisor Manuel Perez, State Assemblyman Greg Wallis and Mayor Scott Matas surveyed the damage on Wednesday afternoon. They then met with residents to discuss more resources that can be provided.

“I mean it’s devastating... See the devastation from the families themselves and just listening to their stories," said Mayor Matas of Desert Hot Springs.

Around 185 residents were evacuated on Tuesday, July 18th due to safety reasons. Nine mobile homes were destroyed in the blaze.

Dozens of residents have been staying at Desert Hot Springs High School while they wait to get the clearance to return to their homes. 11 families are still are still displaced.

“This unit that were standing in front of was a single mom with two children, and she's lost everything in her life," Matas explained.

The fire completely destroyed everything in its path along with mobile homes, cars and all of the belongings inside. It's left residents with a lot of traumatic experiences, and now local leaders are working to assist them moving forward.

“When it comes to the mental state of someone has lost everything, I don't think anybody can relate to that unless it's happened to them. So the services that are coming from the county will help them with those or with with those issues," Matas explained.

The destroyed mobile homes are a devastating sight, but Supervisor Perez says the underlying problem spans across the Valley.

“The issues that you see right here, they're all over throughout the Coachella Valley. Where you have impoverished communities, underserved areas, folks of color overall and just working class people or don't have the resources to move out of here. So what you see happening here is also happening on the east end of the Valley," Perez said.

He wants to build a strategy to target these problems with other local leaders.

“It's important for my role to make sure that they're getting partnered with the appropriate state agencies so that our residents can have the resources they need to get back on their feet," said Assemblymember Wallis.

Wallis tells us with state help, they’re working to assist those who were displaced and to prevent this from happening again.

“We obviously need infrastructure upgrades to not just this park, but our mobile home parks out here. So that, you know, in our high temperature days like this, we don't we don't have these incidents in the future," Wallis said.

The Riverside County Emergency Management Department is coordinating with the City of Desert Hot Springs, county departments and State of California partners to open a Local Assistance Center for residents who were displaced.

The local assistance center is expected to be operational this week and will help transition
residents from the shelter set up at Desert Hot Springs High School, including those who lost
everything in the fire.

Efforts by county departments include:

• The Riverside University Health System – Behavioral Health brought mobile crisis teams to provide emotional support to the 58 families that were affected and to help people stay positive.
• RUHS – Public Health provided a public health nurse for the shelter to assist residents with medical needs while evacuated from their homes.
• Department of Public Social Services coordinated shelter operations, including working with the American Red Cross and the school district.
• District Attorney’s Office supplied dogs to assist in searching for potential victims.
• Riverside County Office on Aging ensured the needs of elderly residents were being met.
• First 5 Riverside County provided support for the children who were evacuated.
• Riverside County Department of Animal Services offered support and capacity to Desert Hot Springs Animal Services.
• Emergency Management Department: an Emergency Services Coordinator provides guidance on emergency management matters to the City of Desert Hot Springs under an existing agreement and has been a constant presence to assist the city and residents during the response and recovery to this fire, including acting as liaison between the city and county departments, state and federal agencies and non-profits.