fires

So far, 2014 has been a major fire year for the west, from Washington through California. There are currently 14 fires burning in California that have burned a total of 215,486 acres.

The Happy Complex fire in Northern California is currently the largest fire burning, with 130,139 acres having burned since starting on August 11.

The King Fire had burned 76,379 acres as of Friday morning but due to infrared monitors being down the fire figures will be updated on Saturday. It was just 10% contained and started on September 13.

Dear voters,

I’m hoping you will send a message by voting for me to work for you on the South Tahoe Public Utility District Board. I’ve been a local 40 years, through droughts, storms, power outages and great sunny powder ski days.

At 21, I opened Happy Steak Restaurant and owned it for 16 years. I was CEO of the California based South Lake Tahoe Chamber for 12 years and I taught Business and Personnel at LTCC. I have a BA in business administration and I’m a graduate of the Institute for Organization Management. I’m a past STPUD Board member.

Lake Tahoe Community College gained the support of the South Lake Tahoe City Council today in their pursuit of $55,000,000 in bond funds through Measure F. The Council voted unanimously to adopt the support resolution.

Dr. Kindred Murillo, Superintendent/President of the Lake Tahoe Community College District, was on hand at Tuesday's City Council meeting to provide an explanation of what the bond would mean to the South Shore community and answer any questions the five council members had.

Marijuana is a major concern for many in our City. As part of the City Code, our City Council provided for a safer community by allowing marijuana grow operations only after a permit is obtained. The permit process provides for a building official to inspect for things like:

1. Safe wiring—adding large number of “grow lights” overburdens conventional electric outlets and can cause fires.

Over 4,016 firefighters have been gaining ground on three major Northern California fires burning in the Sierra.

The Bald Fire is now 91% contained. It had burned 39,926 acres as of 7 p.m. Thursday. According to incident command, there was mostly minimal fire behavior today as smoldering stumpholes and 1,000 hour fuels continue to consume. Isolated interior islands showed moderate rates of spread and some individual torching.The fire is expected to be contained by Friday.

Two fires were quickly extinguished by the South Lake Tahoe Fire Department in the early hours on Sunday.

In the first incident, a fire was reported off Echo Road behind the power substation near the Stateline Raley's. When firefighters arrived at about 12:20 a.m., they found five foot flames coming from what was later determined to be an illegal campfire at a transient person's camp. They quickly cut a line around the fire and contained it to a 10 foot square.

Lake Tahoe is now home to the Tallac Hotshots, a select force of 20 wildland firefighters from the Lake Tahoe Basin Management Unit (LTBMU).

The group completed a demanding and extensive certification process on June 19, making them the first Interagency Hotshot Crew from Lake Tahoe.

Formerly the Tallac Hand Crew, the Tallac Hotshots join an exclusive group of roughly 2,000 firefighters across the country.

Lake Tahoe fire officials, the U.S. Forest Service and Douglas County authorities are investigating a number of intentionally set brush fires lit near four hiking trails in the Stateline and Zephyr Cove areas.

In the past two weeks, four separate small brush fires have been started off of hiking trails, said Douglas County Sheriff's Office Sgt. Pat Brooks. Because of the nature of the fires, they are believed to have been started by the same person or persons, Brooks added.

The busy 4th of July holiday is just a week away, and with Lake Tahoe's increased crowds, excess traffic, fireworks and dry conditions, the South Lake Tahoe Police Department (SLTPD) and the U.S. Forest Service (USFS) are asking everyone to use caution.

Summer is on it’s way and with it comes the risk of wildland fires. Already throughout the State many lives and homes have been in danger due to wildland fires. If your home, or the home of someone you care for is at risk, will you be notified? Have you registered for emergency notifications through the El Dorado County Sheriff's Office (EDSO), Office of Emergency Services (OES), Emergency Notification System? If not, now is the time to do so. The system sends out individual alerts about public health and public safety emergencies affecting specific geographical areas.

Living in a forest gives great benefits, but it also carries with it the risk of forest fires.

A Community Wildfire Protection Plan (CWPP) for South Lake Tahoe is being developed jointly by the South Lake Tahoe Fire Department and Lake Valley Fire Protection District.

The community is being asked to complete a survey which will help the agencies prepare the CWPP. This will enable the creation of a plan on how the south shore will reduce it's risk of wildfire by identifying strategic sites and methods for fuel reduction projects.

Prescribed fire operations will continue around Lake Tahoe this week. Fuels management crews from the U.S. Forest Service will be in various locations around the Lake Tahoe Basin the week of March 30, 2014. Possible locations include Slaughterhouse Canyon on the East Shore, the Luther Pass Campground off of Highway 89 near South Lake Tahoe, the west side of Highway 89 near Tahoma, and near D.L. Bliss State Park on the West Shore.

Operations are ongoing and depend on weather, staffing, and conditions. Locations could vary due to changing conditions.

Prescribed burn operations will take place in several locations around the Lake Tahoe basin beginning on Tuesday, February 18.

The U.S. Forest Service fuels management crews will be in the Luther Pass Campground off of Highway 89 S near South Lake Tahoe, on the west side of Highway 89 N near Tahoma, and in Slaughterhouse Canyon on Lake Tahoe’s East Shore. Prescribed fire crews may continue operations through the weekend, weather, staffing, and conditions permitting. Locations may vary due to changing conditions.

If predicted rain and snow arrives this week, U.S. Forest Service fuels management crews will resume prescribed fire operations in several locations around the Lake Tahoe Basin beginning Tuesday, January 28, 2014.

Operations will take place on the South Shore in the Luther Pass Campground off of Highway 89 S, on the West Shore off of Bunker Drive near Tahoe City and off of Chalet Road near Alpine Meadows ski area, and on the East Shore off of Easy Street on Lower Kingsbury Grade.

Operations may continue through the weekend, weather, staffing, and conditions permitting.

U.S. Forest Service fuels management crews will begin prescribed fire operations off of Highway 89 South near Luther Pass tomorrow, December 10, 2013. Crews will begin burning a 29 acre unit across the highway from the Luther Pass overflow campground and will burn as much as weather and conditions allow. Operations may continue through the week. In addition, crews will begin prescribed fire operations on a small unit off of Highway 28 on the East Shore of Lake Tahoe. Crews will burn approximately two acres on the east side of the highway between Secret and Skunk harbors near Bliss Pond.

There will be prescribed fire operations on Kingsbury Grade and at Emerald Bay resume on Wednesday, December 4. The U.S. Forest Service fuels management team announced that crews will burn about 10 acres per day on Lower Kingsbury near Meadow Lane, weather permitting. Operations are expected to continue through the weekend. In the Emerald Bay area near Inspiration Point, crews will burn approximately three acres over one or two days.

It was just 3 minutes from the time a gun was shot today in Sparks, Nevada until the first police officer arrived at Sparks Middle School. In that 3 minutes, one math teacher was killed, two students were shot and the young shooter shot and killed himself.

The risky measures taken by firefighters to save a stand of giant trees standing in the way of the third-largest blaze in California history worked. Firefighters set back fires to save Yosemite’s Rockefeller, Merced and Tuolumne groves of giant sequoias and giant pines. The tallest sugar pine, 264 ft, lived according to the Sugar Pine Foundation.

In other Rim Fire News, the fire is still burning north of Yosemite. it is now 92% contained and has burned 257,135 acres (402 square miles) to date.

Farmer's Almanac released it's 2014 edition recently and it calls for a cool winter with "near normal precipitation." With the recent fires in Yosemite and the rest of California, many feel that anything above the precipitation of the last 2 years would be very welcome.

Here is this week's fishing report for rivers, lakes and streams in the Sierra, Northern California and Nevada. This report is for the week of Aug. 28 through Labor Day. Don't forget, California's second free day of fishing without a license will be Saturday, Sept. 7.

CAL FIRE PIO Berlant, @CALFIRE_PIO - California Statewide Fire Summary: Nearly 8,000 firefighters remain on the frontlines as nearly a dozen major wildfires continue to burn. Yesterday, CAL FIRE crews contained the Swedes Fire that burned in Butte County, just as a new fire ignited on the Fort Hunter Liggett Military Installation.

From Tahoe’s mountaintops to the lake’s sandy bottom, scientists from the University of Nevada, Reno continue to study and find solutions to the breadth of issues that face the entire Lake Tahoe Basin. Their research is making a tangible contribution to the decisions, policies and practices that guide the basin’s environmental health.

Crews are responding to at least three lightning-sparked fires in Douglas County. The fires are located off Leviathan Mine Road and in the Pinenut Mountains at the Sunrise Pass and Mount Segal areas, according to U.S. Bureau of Land Management spokeswoman Lisa Ross.
Go here for the latest updates.

Here is a news release from Douglas County Sheriff's Office Sgt. Pat Brooks regarding the fires:

The federal government settled two lawsuits Thursday seeking recovery against PG&E and its contractors for wildfires that scorched thousands of acres of national forest land in 2004 and 2008.

The fires — known as the “Power Fire” and the “Whiskey Fire” — collectively burned more than 18,000 acres of national forest. These settlements, totaling $50.5 million, are a significant step toward restoring the precious national resources destroyed by the fires, said U.S. Attorney Benjamin Wagner.