Volunteers Clear Beach of Storm Debris--Including a Refrigerator

A beachcombing party that descended on San Buenaventura State Beach on Saturday came away with more than the usual flotsam of seashells and driftwood. This time, the beachcombers carted off a car-door frame and a refrigerator too.

About 750 volunteers walked 1 1/2 miles of beachfront from the Ventura Pier to the harbor collecting debris from the storms that devastated Ventura County three weeks ago. The effort generated mountains of driftwood--some as long as 40 feet--and three tons of other trash that filled three industrial-sized bins.

“Before, you could hardly walk down the beach. There was no place to sunbathe,” said Jeff Price, a state parks ranger who helped organize the cleanup. “Now the beach is free of glass. There’s no more barbed-wire.”

Price estimated that the wood collected would have stretched from Ventura to Thousand Oaks if each piece were laid end to end.

Volunteers were called to the beach because parks officials could find no other way to get the work done. A private rubbish-clearing company estimated that the work would have cost about $80,000, and “zero money was available from the state,” Price said.

The Ventura County Sanitation District waived $7,500 in dumping fees. In coming weeks, crews from the California Conservation Corps and prisoners on furlough will finish loading driftwood to be recycled into wood chips.

For their effort, volunteers received a ticket good for a cold drink from the snack bar.

Workers unearthed a number of unusual items, including a refrigerator, tires and wheels that floated down from the Ventura Beach RV Resort when the Ventura River jumped its banks.

Other flotsam included foam-rubber padding, tennis shoes and balls and automotive parts.

Four-wheel-drive trucks driven by volunteers with the California Assn. of 4WD Clubs dragged whole trees behind them.

By far, the largest proportion of the debris was driftwood. After volunteers had finished, five large stacks of driftwood, each about 6 1/2 feet high, sat on the beach much like haystacks.

It was not a typical day at the beach for Danielle Gehr, 17, a senior at Nordhoff High School in Ojai, and her three friends.

“I came down here after the storm happened, and you couldn’t even lay out” on the beach, Danielle said as she stacked wood. “We saw about six tires. We found toothbrushes and combs.”

Despite the sunny weather, many of the volunteers donned warm clothing and thick gloves for the hard work.

By midmorning, Betty Southerland and her husband, Randy, of Camarillo had lugged 20 loads of driftwood and trash from the beach to the parking lot, where people loaded up on wood to burn in their fireplaces. “It’s hard to believe this all washed up,” Southerland said after dusting her hands.

Katherine Newton, 80, an Indiana native visiting her sister in Oxnard, said she came to the beach to help.

“We walk at the mall three days a week. But we thought this was special, coming out to clean the beach,” Newton said.

All told, the volunteers donated 2,500 hours of their time, Price said.

After the cleanup, some returned in the afternoon with chain saws to cut up some of the larger pieces of wood.

“They’re out there buzzing away,” Price said.