A community meeting was held on Thursday to provide the public with information about the recovery phases of the Hawk Fire, especially for those affected by it.
County officials provided contact info for resources for those whose homes were damaged so they can begin the recovery process.
Clara Andriola, Chair of Washoe County Commission, told us, "It’s really important that if there's been any damage to your property, to go to emergencywashoe.com and provide that information, your address, and your contact information. Don't assume that we have it. It's nice for you to be proactive so that we can actually react accordingly."
Other city officials we spoke with told us big devastations like this require everyone to come together to help one another.
They say they hope these meetings allow people to share more of the resources they know.
Meghan Ebert, a City Council Member for Ward 4, said, "It’s through the community foundation, and it's nevadafund.org, and people can go there for different types of financial assistance and resources. And also, I have received some donations from people in corporations and businesses that would like to help the community. So I just encourage people to reach out to me."
We heard from folks at the meeting who said they feel the situation could have been handled better.
They said the evacuation orders came with no real instructions on how to get out of the area.
Colleen Rankin, a Stead resident, said, "There was no support or structures there to deal with the evacuation safely and properly. Our neighborhood was in chaos. People were driving every which way, trying to find a secret way out. That didn't exist, and there it was: chaos, and there was no one to manage it. There was nobody directing traffic, so yes, we need better systems in place."
Many people we spoke with are interested in learning how the city will prepare for future fires or other emergencies.
Kelly Orr, an attendee of the meeting, told us, "I think our community is desperately seeking answers and wanting change and wanting the change to happen now, because we've seen the growth in all of our wards happens so quickly. Now we need to stop and pause and make sure our community is safe, our taxpayers are safe, and our families are okay."
City officials told us they see where growth can be made, and they hope everyone works together to make it happen for our community.
Ebert told us, "There were some unhappy people leaving, and I completely understand. I think that there has been a lot of communication deficiencies and that the community are kind of feeling some frustrations here. But I hope that we can start learning from those and do better."
