Mopping Up the Woolsey Fire

Companies from Simi Valley to the Conejo Valley and beyond are busy cleaning up the aftermath of the Woolsey Fire. In November, the blaze burned 96,949 acres and, according to estimates by Irvine-based statistics company CoreLogic, caused an estimated $4 billion to $6 billion worth of damages. Clean-up efforts have fueled scores of industries from law firms to fire- and water-damage specialists and even fine arts preservationists. Commuters on the 101 freeway have a good view of one business visibly damaged by the fire. Good Nite Inn, a hospitality chain with 12 locations across the state, suffered damage to its Calabasas location that was substantial enough to force its indefinite closure. The fire jumped the 101 freeway on Nov. 9 en route to the Pacific Coast Highway in Malibu. The motel at 26557 Agoura Road has been run by Good Nite Inn since 2010. A representative for the Good Nite Inn could not be reached for comment. However, the motel’s owners posted on Good Nite Inn’s Trip Advisor page, “Due to the recent fires, our hotel sustained significant damage and is now closed.” While it is unclear how much damage the motel has incurred, the property has a total valuation of $9.2 million, consisting of $2.7 million in real estate plus $6,510,783 in property improvements, according to CoStar Group data. Besides the Good Nite Inn, Greater Conejo Valley Chamber of Commerce President Jill Lederer told the Business Journal that she is unaware of any businesses in Conejo Valley directly affected by the Woolsey Fire, but overall business slowed during the disaster. “In general, there was more an overall softening of attendance at restaurants and movies,” Lederer said. “People were staying as close to home as they could. They weren’t having more transactions.” Picking up pieces While the Woolsey Fire mostly damaged residential dwellings, the wildfires did impact some businesses. Damage restoration businesses such as Coit Carpet/Rug Cleaning in Thousand Oaks, ServPro in Newbury Park, and CastleCleaners and Servicemaster Clean in Westlake Village, have been working on overdrive to address private residences suffering smoke and fire issues. Also, the U.S. Small Business Administration Public Information dispatched officers to the region in the wildfire’s aftermath. Corey Williams, a public information officer at the SBA, said the agency approved six business loans for $268,300 and five economic injury disaster loans – essentially working capital loans – for $344,100. “Under the new system that we use to process loans, there is no particular NAICS code that is used so we do not have particular information about the type of businesses who applied,” explained Williams, who worked in the Thousand Oaks community, said in an email. Liability questions Last month, Los Angeles firm Baum, Hedlund, Aristei & Goldman filed a civil lawsuit in Los Angeles Superior against Boeing Co. and Southern California Edison on behalf of some 100 property owners, renters and others who suffered injuries, damage and loss to hold the companies accountable for negligence. While investigations into the cause of the blaze are ongoing, the Woolsey Fire was believed to have sparked around 2 p.m. Nov. 8 at the nearly 3,000-acre Santa Susana Field Lab in the hills south of Simi Valley, according to local reports. Boeing owns the former nuclear energy and rocket engine testing site and SoCal Edison maintains overhead electrical equipment and a substation on the property. “We are representing several victims of the fire for their business losses,” Diane Marger Moore, one of the five attorneys on the legal team representing the plaintiffs, told the Business Journal. “The losses are the direct loss of business due to burned or damaged properties and the many businesses whose customers were unable to access their business due to police and fire obstacles and evacuation orders.” Moore said that “the business losses as a result of the Woolsey fire are enormous.” They range from restaurants, lodging facilities, wedding venues and small retailers.  “Their employees, hourly wage earners, were hurt by layoffs and closings,” Moore said. “In addition, we must consider the hundreds of household employees, lawn maintenance personnel and those victim-residents who worked from home.  Their losses are in the millions of dollars.  This does not include the loss of goodwill or business opportunities that are no longer available to some of the victims.” In a statement responding to the litigation, Boeing noted that on-site security and fire personnel based at Santa Susana responded swiftly to the blaze and contacted the fire department. Westlake Village law firm Robertson & Associates also has filed four separate cases accusing Edison on behalf of 420 people affected by the Woolsey fire. In addition, Principal Alex Robertson represents 500 people impacted by the 2017 Thomas fire, which burned nearly 282,000 acres in Ventura and Santa Barbara counties and damaged or destroyed more than 1,300 structures. Roughly 32 separate Woolsey fire lawsuits, on behalf of 700 people, have been filed in Los Angeles Superior Court. Four of the complaints name SoCal Edison. Fire-damaged art In affluent Woolsey-affected neighborhoods such as Thousand Oaks, Westlake Village, Calabasas and Oak Park, the list of fire-damaged goods includes fine art. Kathy Poppers, a Santa Monica-based art authenticator, said a fire- or water-damaged piece of art can be “a tax deductible event.” According to Poppers, there are two ways to get reimbursed by insurance companies for damaged art. Victims can be compensated in cash value, which is a depreciated form of compensation; or they can seek the replacement value, which is the highest value. Another avenue is restoration for fire damaged art. Scott Haskins owns Santa Barbara-based Fine Arts Conservation Laboratories, which provides professional services for saving, protecting and restoring collectibles, artwork and family history items. In a blogpost, Haskins discussed the process of salvaging smoke-damaged artwork and collectibles. The mementos may require a variety of treatments, including HEPA vacuuming of dust, lab testing for toxic materials, disassembly of artwork to clean into hidden areas, encapsulation or coating of surfaces with conservation-grade resins, reframing and rematting, replacement of porous materials not part of the artwork such as backboards and matting, and anoxia tent oxygen deprivation treatments to remove odors and kill mold spores. Haskins’ company is currently facing many assignments emerging from the Woolsey Fire. In Conejo Valley, Fine Arts Conservation Labs is often subcontracted by response companies. “We have a division of our lab that provides services for ServePro, ServiceMaster and Quick Response,” Haskins said. One challenge featured the restoration of a mural inside a Catholic church in Agoura Hills. “The fires came down from the hills up to the door step, burnt all of the vegetaion, but left the church,” he said. “It was like a miracle.” Haskins said the whole building filled with ash and smoke, badly damaging the mural. Quick Response contacted him with the agreement of the client’s insurance company. A mural project, he continued, differs from a framed painting or sculpture because “it’s not like you can buy a new mural.” While wiping it down with cleaner would’ve seemingly restored the mural in the short term, it would soon cloud and flake off and would not be preserved for the long-term. “All we had to do is clean it and varnish,” Haskins said. “The varnishes that we use, you can’t buy at Home Depot.”