Mountain Fire ravages thousands of acres of farmland leaving workers jobless
VENTURA COUNTY, Calif. — Uriel Hernandez owns Seacliff Farm in Ventura County.
He says production is down 25% following the devastation of the Mountain Fire.
“It's going to set us back a few weeks because strawberries, you harvest almost every day. So you've got to discard all that stuff. And not only that, but, having the closure of the schools and the air quality now not being so great we had a layoff for about three days. Most of the workers,” said Hernandez.
Jesus Salgado works long hours in the fields to send money to his wife and 3 kids back home in Mexico.
He says the Mountain Fire has had a devastating toll economically.
“Trabajamos cuarenta por semana, cuarenta horas por semana…" [We worked 40 a week… 40 hours each week. Now I work 20 hours… even 15 hours… It’s decreased drastically] said Salgado.
Salgado makes $16 dollars an hour. Now that work opportunities are sparse, he says this will set him back over $300 a month. His rent alone costs $400 dollars a month.
But he’s looking for more work and trying to stay positive.
“No tiene la economía de antes, pero tenemos bien" [We don’t have the economy we had before but we are good.] said Salgado.
LA-ist says more than 500 acres of avocados have been damaged or destroyed, more than 130 acres of citrus, 10 acres of raspberries, and 2,500 acres of rangeland.
The Ventura County Agricultural Commissioner says this adds up to more than $6 million dollars in damages, and that number is expected to go up exponentially once they finish their survey.
