protection

If conditions are favorable, the North Lake Tahoe Fire Protection District and the U.S. Forest Service will continue prescribed fire operations on Tuesday, January 3, 2017. They will take place on the North Shore of Lake Tahoe near Tahoe City, Kings Beach, Carnelian Bay, and Incline Village.

A) Jennifer/Tyner Urban Fuels Reduction area near Incline Village will have 34 acres of hand piles scheduled to be burned.

B) Tahoe City along Fairway, across from NTFPD Station 51 - 8 acres to be burned.

C) Hwy 267 has 50 acres schedule for burning.

5:00 p.m. update 12/28/16: Homewood Resort at Lake Tahoe will be opening their lifts on Thursday, just one day after a fire destroyed their South Lodge.

"We are expecting to have 'top-to-bottom' skiing and boarding available to our guests," says a message on the Homewood website. "Our team would like to thank the North Tahoe Fire Protection District, Placer County Sheriffs, our community partners and most importantly our amazing employees that are working to get our operations up and running for tomorrow."

The final group of ballots have been counted in El Dorado County, and the results remained the same in all South Lake Tahoe area elections.

South Lake Tahoe City Council- Top 2 Win

Brooke Laine 2548 22.10%
Jason Collin 1995 17.30%
Tamara Wallace 1852 16.06%
JoAnn Conner 1376 11.94%
Ted Long 1295 11.23%
Danny McLaughlin 775 6.72%
John Shearer 758 6.57%
Harold "Trey" Riddle 328 2.84%
Robert Topel 288 2.50%
Patrick Jarrett 268 2.32%

Lake Tahoe Unified School District

Area 1

Prescribed fire operations by the Tahoe Douglas Fire Protection District, California Tahoe Conservancy and the U.S. Forest Service will continue next week at several locations around Lake Tahoe.

Fall and winter bring cooler temperatures and precipitation, which favor prescribed burning. The joint efforts to remove excess vegetation are scheduled to take place at nine different locations including Glenbrook, Cave Rock, Round Hill, lower Kingsbury Grade, South Lake Tahoe, Tahoe Paradise and Meyers.

South Upper Truckee - 50 acres
North Upper Truckee, Homer - 20 acres

On Wednesday, the El Dorado County Elections Department released more results from the November 8 election. There are still approximately 200-300 ballots remaining to count from County Supervisor District 5 which is from Pollock Pines to South Lake Tahoe and Tahoma.

"We'd like to not wait until the December 6 deadline, but there are quite a few provisional ballots left to count," said Justin Canning of El Dorado County.

All ballots must be certified 28 days after the election, hence their December 6 deadline.

The following 47 businesses took out business licenses with the City of South Lake Tahoe during the month of September:

09/01/2016
ASHLIE CURTIN RIDESHARE
DANIEL JONES RIDESHARE
DONNAS RIDESHARE
N. CEBALLOS INC

09/02/2016
CLAY RUSSELL RIDESHARE
IVANA RIDESHARE
JACQUELINE PALMER RIDESHARE
MIGUEL R RIDESHARE
RANDY CARLSON RIDESHARE

09/06/2016
KDC CONSTRUCTION
SHANNON SMITH RIDESHARE

09/07/2016
EFREN ROSALES RIDESHARE
HEALING JOURNEYS

09/08/2016
SIERRA VIEW HONEY

09/09/2016
RANDYS QUALITY ROOFING
RITCHIE ELECTRIC
RYAN SELF RIDESHARE

09/13/2016

November 17, 2:30 p.m. update: There are about 500 provisional ballots from the South Lake Tahoe and Meyers areas that need to be counted, along with a few mail-in ballots.

According to Linda Webster, Assistant Registrar of Voters for the County, there are a few mail-in ballots still to be counted county-wide. She expects there will be an update to the returns before Thanksgiving with a final release of figures right after the holiday. It will be that final report that will include the provisional ballot count.

Residents who haven't already signed up for Douglas County Reverse 911 are being encouraged to do so. The emergency alert system sends text messages in the case of natural disasters, community emergencies, industrial accidents, wildfires, floods, severe weather, chemical spills, or when police actions occur.

Reverse 911 can target all residents in a community down to a single address.

The three members of the Tahoe Douglas Fire Protection District Board went out into the community to thank the voters.

Here is their message to the residents of the district:

Jim Antti started off working as a firefighter/paramedic for Tahoe Doulgas Fire Protection District 24 years ago, and today he is their new assistant chief.

Antti was hired in June of 1992, promoted to captain in February, 2003, and to battalion chief in June, 2013.

6:00 a.m. 11/9 Update: It took awhile for ballots to be counted, but 100 percent of the precincts have now been counted for El Dorado County and South Lake Tahoe. The results are unofficial as some mail-in ballots will still be tallied.

Former councilwoman Brooke Laine and hospital executive Jason Collin will be headed to the South Lake Tahoe City Council in what turned out to be a close race with local politics newcomer, Tamara Wallace. Current Councilwoman JoAnn Conner will not be returning for a second term.

SLT City Council results, the top two vote-getters win:

Ready to cut some firewood? Time is running out to do so on U.S. Forest Service land in the Lake Tahoe Basin. The last day to purchase fuelwood permit for the is on Friday, November 18 and the last day to cut wood is Sunday, November 20.

Permits cost $20 per cord, with a two-cord minimum purchase and a limit of 10 cords per household. Permits have specific conditions and complete information is provided when the permit is issued. Maps to designated cutting areas are also provided and must be in the permit holder’s possession along with the valid permit.

The Tahoe Douglas Fire Protection District and U.S. Forest Service have scheduled prescribed fire operations around the South Shore from Spooner Summit to Meyers, weather and conditions permitting.

Starting Sunday, November 6, the agencies will start burning hand piles off Logan Creek Drive and on Kingsbury Grade on the East Shore, and on urban lots near Heavenly Mountain Resort and off North Upper Truckee Road on the South Shore.

Nevada (Locations and planned date of ignition):
Logan Creek - 10 acres of hand piles start November 6

A former member of both the Sacramento County Board of Supervisors and California State Assembly has been named the interim director of the El Dorado County Community Development Agency.

At the BOS meeting Tuesday, Roger Niello was appointed to fill the spot vacated when Steve Pedretti left the position for Placer County.

Niello begins his job November 2.

Before he went into public service, Niello managed the Niello Auto Group for
25 years until 1999.

I've never met anyone that likes taxes, but we pay them to fund the things we need in our lives: fire protection, law enforcement, education, roads, and services, just to name a few.

In November, Measure U is before the voters of South Lake Tahoe. A "yes" vote will add an extra 1/2 percent to the sales tax on non-food items purchased in the city limits. Currently, the tax is eight percent so the increase works out to be an extra five cents on every ten dollars purchased. It is estimated the tax increase would bring in an extra $2.5 million to the City.

The Lake Tahoe South Shore Chamber of Commerce has announced the nominees for their annual Blue Ribbon Awards with 80 nominations from the community. The program recognizes businesses and individuals who excel in working as one in an effort to improve the quality of life on the South Shore.

UPDATE 1:00PM 10/15/16: The Little Valley Fire in Washoe Valley has now burned 3,460 acres with 5 percent containment. Four injuries due to smoke inhalation have been reported.

The Sierra Front Type III Incident Management Team reports that 22 residences and 17-outbuildings have been destroyed. 500 structures are still under threat.

Interstate 580 is open in both directions, as is old U.S. Highway 395. Franktown Road, the area where most of the home damage is, remains closed.

It wasn't your normal badge ceremony and pinning at Lake Valley Fire District firehouse in Meyers, a celebration of a new hire or new promotion. This time, it was historic, a ceremony that saw not only new new hires, but the promotion at all ranks in the department, including a new Fire Chief.

Recreational facilities managed and owned by the U.S. Forest Service around the lake are starting their seasonal closures.

These winter closures apply to many Forest Service recreation sites including beaches, campgrounds, and picnic areas, which traditionally close in mid-October. Forest roads close around mid-November for soil protection and public safety.

5:15 p.m. update: Weather is helping fire fighters on the fire burning south of Gardnerville.

Recommended evacuations have been lifted and residents can return to their homes in the Ruhenstroth area. The area on the west side of Highway 395, including Stone’s Throw, Frontage Road and the Riverview Mobile Home Park remain closed to the residents.

Highway 395 north and southbound will be opening soon, single lane only with a pilot vehicle.

“The conditions are improving due the light rain, decrease in the winds and cooler temperatures,” said Deputy Chief Dave Fogerson.

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SOUTH LAKE TAHOE, Calif. – As part of ongoing efforts to evaluate and use numerous tools to fight aquatic invasive plants in the Tahoe Keys, the Tahoe Keys Property Owners Association recently announced its plans to apply for a permit for a small-scale demonstration of aquatic herbicides in 2018.

There are an estimated 66 million dead trees in California, and 5.5 million of them need to be cut down immediately to prevent catastrophic fires according to the U.S. Forest Service and the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection.

Zephyr Cove Resort will remain open for business as soil impacted by a 2011 underground fuel release is removed from an area near the south beach volleyball courts starting Monday, September 12.

Even though those driving by and visiting the resort will see the activity, impact to operations is expected to be minimal. There may be some disruption to parking and the volleyball area but watercraft rentals and sightseeing boats will continue to operate during the excavation.

Low-cost community flu vaccination clinics will start in South Lake Tahoe on September 28 and on October 5 on the West Slope.

The El Dorado County Health and Human Services Agency, Public Health Nursing will be conducting the clinics through mid-November for just $10 per vaccine. No one will be denied service due to inability to pay.