Legal Support for North Bay Fires

October 30, 2017, staff reporter – lawinformation.info

The California State Bar and other law related entities take action to help northern California fire victims.

On Sunday, October 8, 2017, Sonoma County wildfires erupted across the North Bay of California.  Despite emergency response, fires raged for more than two weeks.  As of the date of this article, 42 people had died, and hundreds of homes have been destroyed.

The human suffering from this tragedy has been unprecedented.  However, the Bay Area Legal Community has responded to assist the victims.  This articles presents a few of the resources available to victims, as well as opportunities for lawyers to volunteer.

The State Bar of California launched a web page dedicated to helping the victims with landlord tenant issues, mortgages questions, and other legal matters. That web site can be found here: http://www.calbar.ca.gov/Public/Need-Legal-Help/Free-Legal-Help/Legal-Help-After-Disaster.

The Bar Association of San Francisco has opened its legal hotline telephone number for extended hours to help those affected by the North Bay Fires. That telephone number is (415) 575-3120. The hours the number is open are between 8:30 am to 8:00 pm, monday through Friday. See the Bar Association of San Francisco’s flyer at the following link: https://www.sfbar.org/forms/norcal-wildfires-hotline.pdf.

Bay Area Legal Aid issued a press release on October 25, 2017 stating that it would give prirority to victims of the recent Norther California fires prevelant in Sonoma County.
Bay Area Legal Aid’s telephone advice line is (800) 551-5554. They are available Mondays and Thursdays between 9:30 AM and 3 PM, as well as Tuesdays and Wednesdays between 9:30 am and 1:00 pm.  The press release is available at the following web site: https://baylegal.org/northern-california-wildfire/

One Justice has assembled a page that summarizes resources for victims, as well as opportunities for lawyers to volunteer to help. That web page address is: https://onejustice.org/norcalfireresponse/