Keswick’s ‘new beginning’ after Carr Fire marred by blighted property: ‘People are frustrated’

Marla Fowler is reminded of what Keswick has become every day when she looks at the piles of junk and trash, motor homes, travel trailers and other vehicles scattered across a lot that sits across the street from her home.

"It's an irritant and anxiety every single day, because it's the first thing we see every morning and the last thing we see at night, not to mention when they decide they want to fight out by our driveway. It's awful," Fowler said.

She is just one of the many neighbors who have complained to county officials about what they describe as squatting and county code enforcement violations on numerous lots in the Keswick area west of Redding.

Reports of dilapidated buildings, accumulated junk and abandoned vehicles are not new to the Keswick area.

But residents said they hoped that after the 2018 Carr Fire — which broke out four years ago this weekend  — the community could move beyond its reputation and start over fresh.

Within the grid of streets in the central part of the community, the fire burned fast and hot, destroying nearly everything in the area. Only ashes, bricks and skeletons of twisted metal remained after the fire burned through.

Only two homes survived in the center of Keswick. Even the fire hall, with firefighting equipment still inside, was gutted and had to be torn down.

As in other areas of the county that burned in the Carr Fire, excavating equipment was brought in to remove all the debris and ash from each parcel.

Lots were scraped down to bare earth. New homes were built, some people brought in new manufactured homes. County officials have allowed others to stay on their property in travel trailers until more permanent homes are built.

Fowler said the new homes built gave Keswick a shot at a "new beginning."

"People were getting their nice new houses, cleaning up their yards and taming down a bit — and then this just started," Fowler said, referring to junk-filled lots.

'Getting worse and worse'

On some of the lots, residents began moving in numerous travel trailers, motorhomes and other vehicles, residents and county officials said.

"It's just slowly progressed. It's just getting worse and worse," Fowler said.

Keswick residents aren't alone in complaining about junked-out homes and building violations.

There are 17 active code enforcement cases in the Keswick-Shasta area of the county, according to Adam Fieseler, the county Resource Management Department's assistant director.

Throughout the county, there are thousands of active code violations that officials are dealing with, he said. Each alleged violation has to go through inspections, property owner notices and possibly even court proceedings before the county can take action to clean up a parcel, he said.

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In 2022, officials have received more than 200 confirmed code violations countywide, he said.

In some cases, if the property owner does not comply with cleaning up a violation, the county will do the work to clear a parcel. But the county has a limited budget for that, Fieseler said.

"And typically, we can do between three and four small-to-midsize cleanups per year," Fieseler said.

While the number of complaints in the Keswick area may seem small compared to the entire county, residents there are organized. They have held community meetings and invited their county supervisor, Tim Garman.

Residents have also spoken at Board of Supervisors meetings about their problems.

Garman said the board plans to consider setting aside more money to tackle cleaning up blighted lots in the county.

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"It costs a fortune. We don't have much in that budget, so we're going to look at upping that budget. It'll never be enough. But every penny we can put into it. It's another RV we can get off of these properties and clean them up," Garman said. "We have to do something."

Neighbors work with supervisor

Bob Bruce, whose home burned down in the Carr Fire, said he has been trying since September 2021 to remove trailers and other material that he says were illegally placed on a portion of his property.

He said county officials cited him for illegally having the trailers and other material on his property, but he can't remove the items because the owners have called the Sheriff's Office to prevent him from clearing their belongings from his parcel.

"I've paid all this money out to do all this. It was bad. For nine months I just beat my head against the wall," Bruce said. "But now it's gotten to the point where I don't want to put up with it."

Garman said Bruce's issues are just one of many he has dealt with recently.

"People are frustrated. They've been dealing with it for 30-plus years and they're done with it," Garman said.

Josh Emerson lives with two other people across the street from Fowler, on the property she complained is littered with RVs and trash. He said he has been contacted by county officials and he intends to move his belongings off the property.

He said it has been slow going for him, though, because he found out while he was in prison that he has leukemia.

On a recent hot Shasta County afternoon, Emerson had his tools out working on a motorhome on the property located at Market Street and Iron Mountain Road near the "Welcome to Keswick" sign.

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Emerson said he had permission from the owner to stay on the property, but he plans to get his vehicles running and loaded up so he can move off the lot.

While residents have asked for the county to remove squatters from certain properties, Fieseler said resource management does not remove those living illegally on another person's land.

Instead, the department works with property owners to fix code violations, he said.

Fieseler said it is up to property owners to resolve squatting issues by using other legal means, such as an eviction, to remove people living illegally on their land.

Damon Arthur is the Record Searchlight’s resources and environment reporter. He is part of a team of journalists who investigate wrongdoing and find the unheard voices to tell the stories of the North State. He welcomes story tips at 530-338-8834 by email at damon.arthur@redding.com and on Twitter at @damonarthur_RS. Help local journalism thrive by subscribing today!

This article originally appeared on Redding Record Searchlight: Blight, squatters: Keswick's 'new beginning' after Carr Fire marred