Moving “with the speed of trust”: meet the army colonel leading in La County Wildfire County Deals

Colonel Eric Senson of the Army Engineering Corps speaks of cleaning plans. (Photo by Jarret Liota)

Phase 2 of the cleaning of debris caused by the massive fires of Los Angeles County began on Tuesday, and the engineering building of the US army Colonel Eric Senson, tasked with watching all this, is waiting for that day.

Senson follows weeks of building confidence in the palisades and areas of burning Ethan’s fire. Saying people whose dreams, memories and things have risen in smoke that federal crews will come to their property and clean it is not easy. And then it just coordinates the whole thing-the right of entry, providing 12,000 plus cleaning properties.

And he has to do it at some speed and efficiency in the narrow terms and residents wishing to recover.

As he says, cleaning must move “at the speed of trust.”

Senson, tall and always applying the widespread camouflage uniform, is at the front of this message. At Numerous Community Town Halls and Events, You Might Likely have Seen Him – Explain How Hyams Will Clean Up What AT Private Properties LECTION SITE, TO MAKE Properties ready for anything for the future for thousands of homeowners.

This means working with local employees who strive to reconstruct their municipalities of fire. This means providing sites, contractors and routes for carriage of cargo for the withdrawal of debris in what they say employees say it is the largest fire cleaning in the country, given the large size of the homes involved.

But there is a certain tact to him. It’s not too heavy. Skill in conversation with people living in their oldest times.

In a recent mayoralty at the City College, Pasadena even received applause after the presentation of hundreds of people who lost their homes. And he stayed long after the event to take questions one of one.

Senson, who served in Iraq and Afghanistan, has observed its destruction and its impact on people before.

And he saw the consequences of fires.

He helped complete the cleaning of the fire in Lahaine in 2023 in Maui, Hawaii.

According to his biography, he took command of St. Paul’s County Corps in July 2022, becoming the 67th commander and a regional engineer in the district.

The St. Paul District employs about 700 people working on more than 40 sites in five states from the upper middle at the top. The area serves in areas such as navigation, flood risk management, environmental improvement, wetland regulation, recreation areas and disaster response.

When a disaster with the magnitude of Ethan and Palisades occurs, he is the person who receives the call.

When he is over, his goal: he wants to make sure that “when I’m done, it’s done correctly.”

We caught him in a recent mayoralty.

Q: What has been the biggest challenge so far?

A: It sounds shallow if I say it is LA traffic, but I think it will be a challenge for us when we start to remove debris from Phase 2.

As all this fiery ash and debris, green waste, concrete … All this should be pulled out of these neighborhoods and to a suitable place to throw away. Which means we will be on the roads. This will be a challenge.

The other challenge, … it’s just here, every fire, it is emotional.

I have never had a fire, but I have gone with hundreds of thousands of people who have lost their home to shoot. It is an honor for me to be here, but the range and scale of this devastation is variable. And so I know there are thousands of people who really hurt. I feel their energy. I just want to hug them and tell them it’s going to be fine. And go with them on this trip.

One of the things I am a great believer moves with the speed of trust. I want to build this rational with commyunity. When we trust each other, we will go fast. It is a distrust that causes barriers and we do not work so well together.

I want people to know that we are here to help. We are here to go with them.

Here I treat everyone surviving as a partner. Not as a customer. Not as a customer. These are transactional relationships. This is not transient. These people have suffered the biggest tragedy in their lives. They need a partner to help them get to the final. I want to be this partner.

Question: How is what you see in LA County compares to your previous experience in Maui and others?

A: I wasn’t here for Woolsey. But compared to Maui, it’s 10 times bigger. Suffering is the same. The suffering that people are experiencing is the same. The emotional people feel is the same. But the size of this one is just far larger

We are talking about 12,000 people who have lost their homes. And these city fires are really challenging because they take entire neighborhoods with them.

It’s awful if it’s a home fire, and the neighborhood comes and a person who has lost his house is gathering. But when you have an urban fire like the one that takes out an entire neighborhood, it really strains the community and community relationships that have ever been there because they are all displaced and live in hotels and various live combinations and really undermine the sense of people in the community have had S

Q: Do you have a deeper perspective on this now?

A: This is my second fire. The first was Maui. I was in the army for a while and have seen many disasters – many communities that are struggling. But the fires are particularly the eldest of the oldest in terms of natural disasters. Because everything you hold, dear, turns into ashes. And that’s really said.

Q: Where do you get your energy and durability?

A: I have good friends and I am extravert. Cherta forces from supporting other people. This is what takes me out of bed in the morning. This is what keeps me late and night, knowing that we are here to make AA a difference in someone’s life that needs it. Because they are in the oldest life.

Q: Do you live in the area?

A: I’m like the Flyaway team. I live in Minnesota. I am the district commander of the area of ​​St. Paul of the Engineering Corps.

When there is a natural disaster of this size, the body engineers, when they are called, they form a pickup team that is really like an All-Star team. So we take experts in fire debris from our organizations, which are about 40,000 employees, mainly army civil servants.

We go out and accept everything we can and assemble them in place, and we build a team around them and take this team to provide community resources and then choose someone to manage it. And they choose to guide him.

Q: How big is your team in LA today?

A: It will grow to the size maybe 200. As we start entering Phase 2 and the number of crews increases, my staff will increase.