CLEARLAKE, Calif. – On Monday, Congressman Mike Thompson made a visit to Lake County, stopping by Lake County's landfill to see the impacts of the Valley fire.

Landfill Supervisor Kris Byrd, District 5 Supervisor Rob Brown and other county staff joined Thompson for a tour of the Eastlake Landfill in Clearlake Monday afternoon.

Byrd estimated that the impacts from last year's Valley fire have reduced the landfill's lifespan by seven to 10 years due to the sheer amount of debris that has been brought to the facility.

The fire, which began Sept. 12 and was fully contained Oct. 6, burned 76,067 acres, resulted in four confirmed deaths and destroyed nearly 2,000 structures, of which more than 1,300 were homes. It has been listed as the third most damaging fire in California history.

A massive cleanup project of the burned south county properties began in the fall, led by CalRecycle.

County officials estimated that 10 years of capacity was used up in five months' time as the Valley fire cleanup took place this fall and into the winter.

Byrd said that at the cleanup's peak the landfill had hundreds of trucks lined up to bring in the debris from the fire.

He said he had considered shutting down the facility due to the impact on the landfill and his staff.

Normally, it takes 10 years to get a landfill expansion process completed, and the county had about 12 to 15 years left on the landfill when it started taking in Valley fire debris, according to Byrd.

Byrd said the county is now working with the state water board and CalRecycle to expand the landfill in an expedited manner.

Thompson said he made the visit to see the impacts firsthand and to thank county staff for their hard work.

The landfill tour is documented in the video at the top of the page.

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.