It’s official: the state of California says Arcata is in trouble. 

All right, that’s an incredibly literal interpretation of a proclamation of a state of emergency signed by governor Gavin Newsom on Friday, but no less true nonetheless. The Jan. 2 fire that torched half a city block some three months back qualifies the city to a nod that there are, indeed, “conditions of extreme peril” that are beyond the qualifications of the local authorities to fix. 

The 2.5 million gallons of water firefighters dumped on the blaze almost certainly carried innumerable pollutants and environmental hazards from the scorched buildings into creeks, waterways, and Humboldt Bay. Neither the city nor the county has the staff or the ability to monitor and clean up all the affected areas. The state’s declaration opens up emergency funding that will help defray the costs and expedite the environmental harms. 

Arcata and the Humboldt County Sheriff’s Office signed their own state of emergency proclamations within a few days of the fire. 

Recovering from the fire has proved to be difficult and complex. The three different owners of the destroyed parcels all had to carry out their own insurance investigations, as did the Arcata Fire District, and the owners will have to secure a smattering of permits before any cleanup can begin. Any state funds the city or Humboldt County gets probably won’t go towards removing the debris; that’s the property owners’ expense. 

Arcata City Manager Merritt Perry told the Outpost today that city and county staff needed to research how to navigate the process of obtaining the funds. They’ll likely have to tally up all of their firefighting and environmental expenditures, as well as make a thorough assessment of all the damage the fire wrought. Beyond that, he’s unsure.