The Post Office in the Northern Mendocino County town of Leggett on fire the evening of March 1st after being struck by lightning.
The initial dispatch regarding the structure fire came out around 5:44 p.m. indicating a fire was burning inside Leggett Post Office located at 67674 Highway 271.
The reporting party told dispatch the fire ignited after the structure was struck by lightning.
video here:
Photos: Calista Chandler
This is a blow to the community.
Since The Piercy Post Office burned down in 2005 all Piercy mail has been routed through the Legget location.
The following February 2010 letter to the Postal Regulatory Commission from former Piercy VFD Chief Bob Kirk outlines the potential hardships of diminished service, and the minimal consideration of community need:
"Dear Postal Regulatory Commission,
Our Post Office Piercy, California, 95587, was placed in Emergency Suspension on August 1, 2005 because of a fire. The Postal Service installed a Roadside Cluster Box Unit across the road from our burnt Post Office. Our Postmaster was moved to Leggett, California, 95585, twelve miles from here on HWY 101.
Leggett is now our only source of Postal Retail Services. There is no public transit system in this highly rural area. Senior Citizens and those without their own means of transportation have extremely limited access to their accountable mail and Postal Retail Services.
They are dependent on others to give them a ride even to pickup packages or purchase Postal Money Orders. Even those with their own means of transportation must make a twenty four mile round trip to transact routine counter business at the Leggett Post Office.
Not having a local Post Office has also impacted the local business community.
Tourist visiting or camping in the area Redwood Parks now must travel to Leggett to do their Postal business or pickup their general delivery mail. That lose of foot traffic effects their bottom line.
On August 14, 2007 Mr. Howard Ishida, Manager of Post Facility Services and Mr. Anthony Carvelli, Manager of Post Office Operations held a meeting with the citizens of Piercy in our Community Center. We believed after the meeting that the Post Office would be replaced when a building was locate to move to. In November of 2007 Mr. Dan Baleme, 705 HWY 101, Garberville, California, 95542, offered a commercial building four miles from the old Post Office as a sight for the new Post Office. He asked $700.00 for 700 square feet of space and stated that a reduced rate would be available on a larger rental. He was told that the Postal Service was interested in his offer.
A form letter was mailed out by the San Francisco District to the Piercy customers asking what effect closing the Piercy office would have on them. This letter was to be replied to by November 21, 2008. The letter did not explain its importance to the reopening of our Post Office. Most people thought it was just more junk mail and threw it out.
In February of 2009 Mr. Baleme stated that he was told that the Postal Service was no longer interested in renting his property. He also said that he was told that there will never be a replacement Post Office in Piercy. Our town of two hundred people was not given the protection provided by Title 39. There was not posting of a Public Notice, no 60 day comment period and no Public Notice of Final Decision. Without these Public notices how can our community exercise its rights to comment and appeal of the Postal Services actions?
Sincerely,
Robert Kirk, Committee to Reopen Piercy
