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I was working on the East Coast when I received news of an unprecedented wildfire in southern Lake County. The Valley Fire, as it would come to be known, was growing at an extreme rate. When my emergency flight back to California landed, more than 50,000 acres had already been engulfed, and the fire was only 5 percent contained.

As I drove through communities that I’ve represented for 25 years, the smell of smoke filled the air. Fires were still raging in the distance. And once vibrant communities looked like long-deserted ghost towns.

U.S. Rep. Mike Thompson today announced a $258,600 grant from the Department of Health and Human Services for the Sonoma Valley Community Health Center.

“Sonoma Valley Community Health Center is a patient-focused organization that provides top-notch services to people throughout our valley,” said Thompson. “This funding will help them to further expand their dental services, and allow them to continue offering quality health care services to our community.”

The governor would be wise to scrap his crusade to build massive water tunnels beneath the California Delta, say seven members of Congress, all Democrats.

The governor’s plan to build the multibillion-dollar twin tunnels fails to increase the water supply, will devastate an already fragile Delta ecosystem, and will divert money from more effective statewide water solutions for California, say the lawmakers in a letter to Gov. Edmund Brown Jr.

Dear Friends,

Our community was recently devastated one of the top-three worst fires in California's history. The Valley Fire, which started on September 12, 2015, has burned nearly 80,000 acres. Thousands of people were forced to evacuate. More than a 1,200 homes, 23 multi-family residences and 68 commercial properties were burnt to the ground. At least four people lost their lives. Many families were left with nothing.

WASHINGTON D.C. >> U.S. Rep. Mike Thompson, D-St. Helena, announced on Friday that Federal Emergency Management Agency and Public Assistance funds will be available to Lake County in the wake of the devastating Valley fire.

Rep. Mike Thompson announced a $125,000 Drug-Free Communities Support Program grant for the UpValley Partnership for Youth, a broad-based prevention coalition led by the Napa County Office of Education and the UpValley Family Centers.

"This grant will support the UpValley Partnership for Youth’s efforts to keep kids off drugs, and help our younger population stay on healthy and successful paths. I am proud to support their important work,” Thompson said in a news release.