SOUTH LAKE TAHOE, Calif. – The City of South Lake Tahoe Fire Department Fuels Division completed several key Hazardous Fuels Reduction projects in 2025. These projects demonstrate the City’s ongoing commitment to public safety, transportation, and environmental stewardship. The City is providing an overview of the City’s wildfire prevention projects and their progress.

Completion of Airport West Fuels Reduction Project: The City was awarded a grant by the United States Forest Service (USFS) for a 17-acre Hazardous Fuels Reduction project in 2022 along Highway 50 in front of the South Tahoe Airport. In 2025, the project was completed and was identified as part of the Hwy 50 evacuation corridor through the Community Wildfire Protection Plan. Projects like this reduce hazardous fuel loading, helping to create a healthy forest and protect valuable infrastructure and evacuation routes within our community.

Fire Adapted Communities Program: Administered by the Tahoe Resource Conservation District (TRCD) with funding from the Southern Nevada Public Lands Management Act (SNPLMA), the South Lake Tahoe Fire Department is contracted to provide the Community Curbside Chipping program in partnership with South Tahoe Refuse who accepts the chipped material. During 2025, the South Lake Tahoe Fuels Crew completed 289 chipping requests, removing approximately 975 cubic yards of material from the community, helping residents complete their defensible space. The Fire Adapted Community Program grant also provides the City Fire Department with three seasonal Defensible Space Inspector positions. The City’s fire defensible space inspectors completed:

  • In the City: Completed over 949 property inspections, resulting in over 1739 total inspections
  • In the County: Completed 359 property inspections in Lake Valley’s District, resulting in over 800 inspections and re-inspections.

City Waterways Project: The City Public Works Department contracts the Fire Department’s Fuels Crew to help manage overgrown vegetation blocking waterways and culverts. During the 2025 season, the Fire Department Fuels Crew mitigated approximately 16 acres of vegetation removal, helping with water runoff and lake clarity within the city. This work also promotes healthier forest conditions, further creating a resilient community in wildfire-prone areas.

California Tahoe Conservancy (CTC) Lots: The City Fire Department Fuels crew was contracted by the California Tahoe Conservancy (Conservancy) to help mitigate Hazardous Fuels Reduction within the South Shore. The City Fuels crew was able to complete 15 acres of fuels mitigation, helping the Conservancy to strengthen their commitment to wildfire safety within our community.

South Tahoe High School Hazardous Fuels Reduction Project: The City Fire Department Fuels Division, through a Memorandum of Understanding with the Lake Tahoe Unified School District and Lake Valley Fire Protection District, secured funding from the USFS for a 71-acre Hazardous Fuels Reduction project on South Tahoe High School land. This fuels reduction project focuses on creating a healthy forest, eliminating overgrown and dead vegetation, helping to protect infrastructure and creating a buffer between the forest and the community. This project is just over 60% complete, and the contractor on this project plans to have it completed by June 2026.

City Hazardous Fuels Reduction Project: The City secured funding from the Southern Nevada Public Lands Management Act (SNPLMA) in 2023 for three Hazardous Fuels Reduction Projects. The three areas that include 149 acres of fuels reduction work include the South Tahoe Airport, Tahoe Island near Tahoe Valley Elementary, and the Recreation Center land encompassing the campground by the lake. A contract has been awarded to a contractor, and environmental documents are being finalized so that work can commence. Completion of the project is scheduled for the 1st quarter of 2028.

Additional projects in the works: The City Fire Department Fuels Division has been busy working with our Tahoe Fire and Fuels Team partners to identify projects and funding sources to complete needed Hazardous Fuels Mitigation within the South Shore, strengthening our resiliency to wildfire. We have an additional 400 acres that we are currently planning for the upcoming season.