Asleep at the wheel

There’s a lot to chew on regarding the city of Chico’s unprecedented recent step of opening a warming center, but the thing that is quite clear not only to this newspaper but also to several City Council members is that the county’s cold-weather emergency response is inadequate.

Several Chico representatives said as much from the dais during that panel’s last meeting, lamenting that they’d been left holding the bag for a job their counterparts at the county ought to be tackling. Indeed, the county is the governmental body tasked with public health and safety.

Thing is, the agency’s deficiency on that front during weather events is not exactly new news. Several years ago, this newspaper reported on criticism of its so-called Extreme Cold Weather Plan, a piece of the larger Emergency Operations Plan that dictates certain services be provided by the county during disasters (see “Freeze out,” Newslines, Dec. 18, 2014).

Among the concerns: Some of the conditions that trigger action aren’t well-reasoned. One of them requires weather to drop below 25 degrees (when does that happen here?). Another checks capacity at local shelters (i.e., the Torres Community Shelter). As was noted at the time, that temperature demarcation is well below levels that pose life-threatening conditions for those without adequate shelter. In addition, as one former mayor noted, the Torres Shelter is not set up for last-minute intake driven by weather events.

The county has previously stated that its plan isn’t meant to serve the chronically homeless, but rather is designed to address times of disasters—say, when a storm disables power and people can’t heat their homes.

But news flash: Butte County is a federal disaster zone. That’s been true since shortly after the Camp Fire torched the Ridge and other portions of the county. One of the results is that more people are living on the streets, especially in Chico. As you’ll read this week, some of those who sought shelter in the emergency warming center established by the city were Camp Fire survivors (see “Extreme conditions,” page 8).

Were it not for the city of Chico’s action, dozens of people would have endured nights outside during freezing temperatures. The council took that step on a day when Chico saw a light dusting of snow and temperatures were expected to remain around or below freezing for several days. We have no gripes with the $18,000 the city spent, but this isn’t its job and it’s not a viable long-term solution.

The county needs to step up, and it needs to do so immediately.