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Sep 06

City Building Inspector Helps with Napa Earthquake Recovery

Posted on September 6, 2014 at 11:19 pm by Clay Curtin

On August 28, 2014, the California Office of Emergency Services put out a call for building evaluators to help in the efforts to inspect and tag unsafe structures in the City of Napa.  After insuring there would be no impact to inspection services in Menlo Park, our Senior Building Inspector Scott McBirney left for Napa. He spent Thursday, August 28th, through Sunday, August 30th, inspecting approximately 100 businesses and 500 residences. He observed that the most structural damage occurred along "fingers" of the fault lines, but that almost every business and residence experienced a significant loss of personal items.  Scott specifically noted that business owners and residents were eager to share their experiences, be acknowledged for their clean-up efforts, and learn whether their buildings were structurally sound.  Business owners, residents and the City of Napa staff all expressed sincere gratitude for the help.  During his time in Napa, Scott was able to put together a set of observations that will be shared with other City staff and further enhance our City's emergency planning efforts.