Paso Robles police providing a progress report on their effort to remove squatters from the Salinas riverbed.
You may remember that back on May 24th, the city posted notices that from the Niblick bridge to the city limits north of the wastewater treatment plant, the Salinas riverbed was a high fire risk area, and people should clear out.
The notice said everyone must evacuate the area and remove all property.
Police went back in between July 13th and July 22nd. They discovered open fire pits, propane tanks, gas-powered generators, large car and RV batteries and discarded drug paraphernalia.
The police arrested six people living in the riverbed. 19,000 pounds of trash were removed. The cost to remove all the trash was over $9,000 dollars.
The six people arrested were charged with having an illegal fire, possessing drugs and drug paraphernalia and refusing to vacate from the designated high fire risk area.
Since May 24th there have been more than ten fires in that high fire risk area in the Salinas riverbed.
