MIDDLETOWN, Calif. – The Middletown Area Town Hall voted to elect its new board for 2016 and got updates from state and county officials on the work to clean up properties devastated by the Valley fire at its January meeting.

MATH meet on Thursday evening at the Middletown Community Center.

During the meeting, the group elected three members of the five-member board after brief presentations by four candidates.

Vice Chair Claude Brown was reelected, with Linda Diehl-Darms and Gregg Van Oss also joining the board.

They will serve along with Chair Fletcher Thornton and Secretary Margaret Greenley.

Before the election there was a discussion about whether MATH should return to a seven-member board, which it had started out with when it formed in December 2006.

Joe Sullivan, who chaired MATH in its early days, explained that the size of the board was reduced due to trouble getting a quorum for meetings. He suggested it was too soon to increase the number of board seats.

Thornton, who was in favor of increasing the board back to seven, said the bylaws can be rewritten to define the quorum based on how many people are present at the meetings.

Ultimately, the decision was made to postpone a decision about changing the board's numerical composition.

One of the evening's main items was an update on the cleanup by CalRecycle crews of burned properties that has been moving briskly since it began in the fall.

The Valley fire destroyed more than 1,300 homes and damaged nearly 700 more, officials have reported.

Todd Thalhamer, senior waste management engineer with CalRecycle, said that as of Thursday only 92 structures were left to be abated.

“I made some grandiose promises at the football stadium, and not only did I meet them, I beat them,” said Thalhamer, referring to a September community meeting at Middletown High School in which he pledged to the community – where, incidentally, he had grown up and graduated from high school – that he would conduct a thorough cleanup operation.

He said he had great support from his crews and the community in meeting his goals. “The men and women that are working here are phenomenal,” Thalhamer said. “It's been an impressive organization to lead.”

As of Thursday, 40 cleanup crews were running – even in the winter weather – with plans to demobilize 12 others, Thalhamer said.

He anticipated that by this Saturday they would be finishing up, and at that point would have cleaned up 1,190 lots and conducted erosion control work.

Thalhamer said crews will return in spring and work on 20 to 30 sites that they cannot cleaned up now due to concerns about the potential for environmental damage.

He said that leaves some commercial properties that haven't yet been cleaned up. Thalhamer said some properties haven't yet signed up for the cleanup program, and sites going through abatement need to go through the county process.

Negotiations are under way to bring CalRecycle back for the additional work, he said.

Thalhamer thanked everyone for their patience and hospitality, and expressed appreciation for the work of the crews. “To watch these crews is amazing.”

He said 205 people from Lake County who are trained in hazardous materials handling are working on those crews, and there are a number of sites permitted for new building.

While they are planning on releasing a lot of crews, Thalhamer said that doesn't mean CalRecycle is going away.

When crews return in the spring Thalhamer said they will be fixing roads and septic tanks damaged in the cleanup.

Lake County Environmental Health Director Ray Ruminski, who is incident commander on the project and in joint command with the California Office of Emergency Services, said that before the Valley fire the county had contacted state agencies for help in the Rocky fire cleanup.

Ruminski said he had contacted Thalhamer and asked if he would come, and he said he would. “That's kind of how it started.”

In other business at MATH, South Lake County Fire Marshal discussed a law that went into effect several years ago requiring that all new residential stick-built structures have fire sprinklers installed. There is an exemption that currently does not require them for manufactured homes.

He called it a “bold step” by the state fire marshal, citing statistics that 4,000 people die each year because of fire, more than from any other kind of natural disaster. Of those 4,000, 84 percent are related to residential dwellings, and most of those deaths are senior citizens or children under age 10.

Another problem is that most of the materials now used in houses are manufactured and put off chemicals and combustible gases when they burn. Those toxic materials can get into the watershed as a result of the firefighting process, he said.

Miinch said the new sprinkler systems will not only save lives but protect the environment.

He said costs for the sprinkler systems range from $2,500 for a double-wide mobile home to between $3,500 and $10,000 for stick-built homes.

The requirements will bring challenges as the south county rebuilds. Miinch said that the fire district serves a 289-square-mile area that includes seven water municipalities, as well as countless other small systems and wells. None of those water municipalities are modern, so supply lines are smaller than they should be to serve the sprinkler system.

Miinch said he's looking at how to best address the issues that arise from the law's implementation, and is working with the county in doing that.

Cal Fire Division Chief Jim Wright, who was in the audience, pointed out that stopping a house fire can prevent a wildland fire.

Also on Thursday, MATH hosted a 15-minute presentation from Phoenix rising on plans for rebuilding in the wake of the fire.

Members spoke about various economic initiatives to bolster the economy not just in the fire area but countywide, and also to build a new wellness center.

The group meets at 6:30 p.m. every Monday at the Middletown Art Center, located at 21456 Highway 175, at the junction of Highway 29.

Email Elizabeth Larson at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. . Follow her on Twitter, @ERLarson, or Lake County News, @LakeCoNews.