Crews in the North Bay continued to clean up wildfire debris over the weekend, despite the ongoing government shutdown.
Federal disaster relief workers and contractors are not affected by the lack of an appropriations bill, as their funding comes from the separate Disaster Relief Fund. The Sacramento District of the Army Corps of Engineers posted a video on its Facebook page on Saturday showing a debris removal crew at work in the Fountaingrove community in Santa Rosa.
"When you're assigned to a disaster relief activity, you are charging to that fund, and none of us will be affected," said Army Corps of Engineers spokeswoman Nancy Allen. "So that includes the contracts and all of the administrative oversight that the Corps of Engineers provides."
Allen said debris removal has been completed in Lake County, and a total of 2,540 parcels have been cleared in Northern California, following a series of deadly October wildfires.
In Southern California, the prospect of disaster recovery being slowed to a halt by a shutdown led one Democratic congressman to support a temporary funding bill last week.