Placentia : Payment of Evacuation Costs on Council Agenda

In a move two other cities may be emulating soon, Placentia City Council members will be asked tonight to appropriate $17,879 to cover city costs stemming from an evacuation caused by the recent toxic fire at an Anaheim pesticide warehouse.

As of Monday, Anaheim and Fullerton had not tabulated overtime and supply costs incurred in battling the blaze that broke out June 22 at the Larry Fricker Co. in Anaheim. How much money businesses in all three cities lost while evacuated will be assessed through questionnaires sent out by the county Fire Department’s emergency management division.

In Placentia, the city’s price tag for evacuating more than 4,000 residents and workers for a total of 32 hours included only overtime costs for police and public works personnel. It would have been higher, Asst. City Administrator Jack Slota said, had it not been for volunteers.

Groups such as the Golden West Police Academy logged a total of 642 volunteer hours, Slota said. “We’re very proud of that,” he said.

City officials hope that eventually state and federal agencies will disburse disaster aid to pick up some of the expenditures. About 200 active businesses ranging from medium-sized manufacturing plants to small home operations in Placentia’s evacuation area could be eligible for aid from the Small Business Administration, Slota said.