Marek Fire victims get burned twice

Forgotten Marek Fire Victims Get No FEMA Aid

LAKE VIEW TERRACE (CBS) ― As government aid pours into residents of an upscale mobile home park that burned in the Sayre Fire last month, residents of a smaller, less-exclusive subdivision just down the freeway are getting ignored, it was reported Sunday.

Aid from FEMA and other government agencies abounds for Oakridge Mobile Estates, a community where about 500 modular houses were quickly reduced to molten aluminum as the Sayre Fire ripped through Sylmar.

But residents of the nearby Sky Terrace Mobile Lodge, which burned in the October Marek Fire, are getting virtually nothing except setback after setback, the Daily News reported Sunday.

State officials say the Marek Fire was not as large as the Sayre Fire, so it was not declared a federal emergency and no FEMA money is forthcoming.

It's money that many of the residents desperately need given that many were too poor to pay for fire insurance and their income is too low to qualify for low-interest loans.

The circumstances of these fire victims are nothing short of dismal.

And to top it off, the Sky Terrace site sits atop a former toxic waste dump, and has been sold to new owners who plan to clear it, the Daily News discovered. That means burned-out residents have lost any chance they had for a buyout.

"It's been one slap in the face after another," lamented Darlene Westman, 69, in a Daily News interview.

"I feel terrible about Oakridge. But everywhere I go it seems like there's something going on for Oakridge, some kind of benefit, you know," she told the newspaper. "They do everything for Oakridge but nothing for us."

The federal Small Business Administration has approved $1 million in low-income loans so far for persons hurt by October's Marek Fire, which scorched the northern foothills north of the lower-middle-income neighborhood of Lake View Terrace. But it has considered only one loan application from Sky Terrace.

And that sole applicant, Westman, was rejected because her Social Security income is too small to repay the debt.

Sky Terrace residents told the Daily News they have been overlooked by the community outpouring of sympathy and help for Oakridge residents, who lived in what was called "the Bel-Air of mobile home parks." Fashion makeovers, Christmas dinners and other signs of goodwill and help have been offered to the Oakridge victims, but not Sky Terrace.

Only the American Red Cross and members of the Taiwan Buddhist Tzu Chi Foundation have made efforts to comfort and assist the Sky Terrace victims, the newspaper reported.

The Buddhist charity group responded quickly to Sky Terrace, offering goods and spiritual help to the victims shortly after the fire, the newspaper said.

"They listened to my story, held my hand, gave me a blanket," said Wanda Dueker, a Lassen Elementary School librarian who lost her small house to the earlier blaze. "It was the only blanket I had at that moment," she told the Daily News.

Westman says she's unsure of her future and that she feels somewhat cheated.

"The Oakridge disaster "was a lot bigger than we are, but it's the same result" - people lost their homes, she said.
Source: http://cbs2.com - Link