wildfires

Trees will be thinned along the Pope Baldwin Bike Path off of State Route 89 north of South Lake Tahoe starting Monday, August 21. Recreationists can expect path closures for up to 30 minutes at a time as flaggers intermittently close the bike path for public safety as trees are falling.

This phase of the project will take place Monday through Friday from 6:00 a.m. until 3:00 p.m. and is expected to last several weeks. Bicyclists may use the bike lane on Highway 89 to detour around the traffic control areas.

"Charles Barkley became a beacon of hope and support for the firefighters and the recovery efforts of the community," Tahoe Douglas Fire Marshal Eric Guevin told the crowd at the 10th tee Friday morning. "Charles, we are here to support and cheer you on in your game today. We want people to care, be aware and prepare for wildfires. On behalf of the Fire Chiefs of Lake Tahoe, Sir Charles thank you for caring."

LAKE TAHOE - The California Tahoe Conservancy Board today authorized $414,074 to the California Department of Parks and Recreation for projects that improve forest health and reduce the risk of wildfire at Tahoe State Recreation Area and Ed Z’Berg Sugar Pine Point State Park. The funding is the first allocation of more than $6.8 million in Southern Nevada Public Land Management Act funds awarded to the Conservancy at last year’s Presidential Summit.

Igniting on June 24, 2007, the Angora Fire rapidly spread to over 3,100 acres, destroying 254 homes, 75 commercial structures and resulting in more than $141 million in damages. In response to this disaster, an Emergency California-Nevada Tahoe Basin Fire Commission was formed to conduct a comprehensive review of the laws, policies and practices that affect the vulnerability of the Tahoe Basin to wildfires.

Whole tree removal will take place near Fallen Leaf Campground for the next month as part of the U.S. Forest Service's healthy forest program in the Lake Tahoe Basin.

The public is being asked to avoid that area during operations due to hazardous conditions associated with heavy equipment, falling trees, limb removal and trees being cut into sections.

Work in this area will stop around July 1, 2017, and any unfinished work will resume after Labor Day.

The work area along Fallen Leaf Lake Road off of SR-89 could be hazardous even when work crews are not present so use caution.

This June is wildfire awareness month at Lake Tahoe. It also marks the 10th anniversary of the Angora Fire, the most destructive wildland fire in memory at Tahoe.

An illegal and abandoned campfire started the Angora Fire on June 24, 2007. The fire quickly spread toward Meyers, stoked by strong winds and forests overgrown with hazardous fuels. In a few days, the fire burned 3,100 acres and destroyed 254 homes.

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.

If you see smoke around Amador, Georgetown and Placerville it will most likely be from 12,671 acres of National Forest land being burned this fall by the U.S. Forest Service.

USFS will begin its fall prescribed burn program in the Eldorado National Forest as soon as weather conditions are favorable. Fire managers plan to burn approximately, 12,671 acres of National Forest land this fall, winter and spring using a combination of understory and pile burning techniques.

SOUTH LAKE TAHOE, Calif. – The Tahoe Fire and Fuels Team is reminding the public that fire danger in the Lake Tahoe Basin remains high due to the ongoing drought and lack of precipitation. Illegal campfires and warming fires continue to be a concern for fire officials and are the major cause of wildfires in the basin. Fire restrictions are still in effect on National Forest land and will remain in effect until the official end of fire season.

A 4,000 acres project in the North Lake Tahoe area is underway to thin trees in the forests to be both fire safe by reducing fuels, and to keep the forest healthy.

The latest project in the Incline Village area started last week on approximately 355 acres of National Forest System lands above Incline Village. Mechanical cut-to-length (CTL) tree removal will take place on USFS urban lots and in areas adjacent to communities over the next several months and some areas will be closed for public safety.

A single-vehicle crash has claimed the lives of two Bureau of Land Management (BLM) firefighters, one who is from Zephyr Cove. One other BLM firefighter was injured.

On Sunday evening, the firefighters were returning to Winnemucca after looking for lightning-sparked wildfires in Northern Nevada. NHP said tire failure may have caused the crash near the junction of State Highway 140 and U.S. 95 at about 5:00 p.m.

Fire and law enforcement officers across the State are working together to confiscate illegal fireworks and get them off the street. In Placer County, an announced inspection of all vehicles going through the Truckee agricultural station netted 1,882 pounds of illegal fireworks, resulting in 20 misdemeanor citations and seven felony arrests.

In another operation, CAL FIRE joined a multi-agency fireworks seizure operation in San Bernardino County that resulted in the confiscation of 25,406 pounds of illegal fireworks, 51 misdemeanor citations issued, as well as two felony arrests.

The number of dead trees in the Sierra Nevada are now at historic levels and have fueled the risk of catastrohpic wildfires according to the U.S. Forest Service.

They announced Wednesday that they have identified an additional 26 million dead trees in California since October 2015, bringing the total to at least 66 million dead trees in the state. The most recent additions are located in six counties across 760,000 acres in the Southern Nevada region.

To keep Tahoe cherished and known for its beauty, locals try in their best efforts to “keep Tahoe blue.” Sadly, negative effects in our ecosystems come from humans which could damage the clarity of the lake and the air quality. Bad air quality comes from numerous sources, such as car emissions, uncontained fires, and contributors to toxic runoff into the forest; these sources of pollution must be stopped.

The South Shore Hazardous Fuels Reduction and Healthy Forest Restoration project on 10,000 acres near Fallen Leaf Lake has resumed.

Crews with the U.S. Forest Service will be mechanically removing whole trees off Fallen Leaf Road near the campground over the next several months and the area will be closed for public safety.

The goal of the project is to reduce the risk of severe wildfire and create healthier forests.

A three-month long tree removal project off of Fallen Leaf Lake Road near the campground will start around May 15, 2016. Due to the heavy equipment needed, the Forest Service will issue a forest order closing the project area (units 1 and 148) to pedestrians from 7 a.m. until 6 p.m. daily.

NV Energy is proposing to replace the electrical transmission line that runs from Foothill Rad in the Carson Valley to Tramway Drive near Heavenly Mountain Resort, and a public comment period has been initiated.

The U.S. Forest Service Lake Tahoe Basin Management Unit is seeking public input on 634 Line Rebuild project. The draft Environmental Assessment (EA) analyzes the proposed replacement of the transmission line that serves the Kingsbury substation, which provides electricity to Heavenly Mountain Resort and the surrounding Kingsbury Grade area.

The U.S. Forest Service Lake Tahoe Basin Management Unit (LTBMU) lifted fire restrictions on National Forest System lands on Friday, October 30, 2015.

“While conditions have allowed the Forest Service to lift fire restrictions, wildfires can still occur,” said Fire Management Officer, Kit Bailey. “Visitors to our National Forests need to educate themselves about how to safely build and extinguish a campfire, and should continue to be careful and remember that campfires are only allowed in certain areas.”

Change.

It’s happening fast in Reno-Tahoe tourism, from millennials’ growing influence in the marketplace to changing preferences among visitors, according to a new industry analysis.

And the quicker the region embraces it, the better.

“Reno-Lake Tahoe Tourism Industry – Navigating Change,” is a white paper written by South Lake Tahoe-based SMG Consulting and its president, Carl Ribaudo.

Smoke from fires burning in Northern California has moved into the Lake Tahoe basin, Reno and Carson City.

The air in Reno reached the unhealthy range at 4 p.m. on Saturday with a 151 air quality index.

There is no single fire contributing to this, rather many large wildfires and wildfire complexes in northern California.

Responding to continued drone interference in fighting wildfires, Senator Ted Gaines (R-El Dorado) today announced plans to introduce legislation to help protect emergency responders engaged in their life-saving work. Senate Bill 168, co-authored by Assemblyman Mike Gatto (D-Glendale), grants immunity to any emergency responder who damages an unmanned aircraft in the course of firefighting, air ambulance, or search-and-rescue operations.

History shows time and time again our greatest accomplishments at Lake Tahoe are achieved when people work together. In the past, Tahoe was known as a place where unproductive interactions between stakeholders led to a stunning decay in our environment and our economic vitality, creating a region that seemed frozen in time.

We face major environmental challenges at Tahoe, including the uncertainties of climate change. And as Albert Einstein said, “We can’t solve problems by using the same kind of thinking we used when we created them.”

Twice in the last week, people flying drones disrupted wildfire operations in Southern California, causing federal, state and local wildfire managers to come out with a warning to the public, "Do not fly unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) within or near wildfires."

The long-range forecast doesn’t bode well for the interior West as it chokes on a fourth year of drought and smoke from wildfires.

With the fire season ramping up and temperatures starting to soar, drought and fire dominated the discussion at the Western Governors’ Association annual meeting being held this week at Incline Village on the shores of Lake Tahoe.

Gov. Brian Sandoval, who has chaired the group for the past year, made drought his signature initiative, bringing together water experts and managers to develop best practices for water management and drought preparation.