power lines

SOUTH LAKE TAHOE, Calif. - A fast moving Pacific storm will move through Monday with strong winds, valley rain and mountain snow. Clearing for Tuesday into Wednesday with a couple weak systems possible Wednesday night and on Friday. Some increase in wind along with showers are possible with each storm.

SOUTH LAKE TAHOE, Calif. - There are two new weather watches issued for the Lake Tahoe Basin this week, but most of the impacts will be above the 6500 foot elevation.

First come the winds. A High Wind Watch is in effect Tuesday from 7:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. Winds will be front the south 20 to 35 mph with gusts up to 60 mph possible. Stronger wind gusts to 75 mph are possible in Nevada for wind-prone areas along and west of Highway 395 and Interstate 580. Exposed ridges are likely to gust over 100 mph.

UPDATE 9/17 10:45AM: The Public Safety Outage Management (PSOM) event previously forecast for Friday, September 18 for the Incline Zone is canceled due to updated weather forecasts.

There is a Red Flag warning at Lake Tahoe with elevated fire weather conditions and NV Energy will continue to monitor conditions and take extra steps to mitigate wildfire risk. This includes staging their line crews, vegetation management crews and fire agency partners at specific locations around the lake.
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SOUTH LAKE TAHOE, Calif. - If the reading is verified, the wind gust of 209 mph recorded at Kirkwood just before 8:00 a.m. Sunday is potentially be a new California state record.

The winds throughout the Sierra have closed not only Kirkwood Mountain Resort operations for the day but also Sierra-at-Tahoe. Some lifts are on wind hold or closed at Heavenly Mountain Resort, Squaw Alpine, Northstar, Mt. Rose and others.

3:45 p.m. update: Crews have been able to re-route power to re-energize most customers. The remaining customers are expected to be re-energized by 5:30 pm and then crews will focus on the long term repairs through the night.

3:20 p.m. update: Power has been restored to about half of those affected by the earlier outage. Liberty Utilities says the remaining 3,184 customers should have power restored by 3:41 p.m.

SOUTH LAKE TAHOE, Calif. - With electrical transmission lines found to be at fault in recent California fires, agencies responsible for supplying electricity to communities have been creating plans to prevent fires in the future.

Both companies that supply power to Lake Tahoe, NV Energy and Liberty Utilities, have announced new mitigation efforts to reduce the risk of fire.

Liberty Utilities and the USDA Forest Service Lake Tahoe Basin Management Unit (LTBMU) are working together on a proposal to reduce the risk of unwanted wildfires on approximately 6,300 acres of forest in the Lake Tahoe Basin along 55 miles of power line corridors.

The Liberty Utilities Resilience Corridors Project would help create healthier and more resilient forests while reducing the risk of unwanted wildfires that could ignite either from vegetation coming in contact with utility infrastructure or failures of infrastructure.

SOUTH LAKE TAHOE, Calif. - Fire Chief Jeff Meston is retiring from South Lake Tahoe Fire Rescue (SLTFR) on February 28, five years and five months after he came out of retirement to head up the department.

On Friday, February 1, Meston submitted his resignation to the City.

"When I was hired by CM (City Manager) Kerry I promised to spend between 3-5 years with the City Fire Department and bring them as far as I could to be a “world class” fire department," Meston said in his resignation letter.

He feels he's accomplished what he set out to do.

LAKE TAHOE, Calif. - There will be two public workshops hosted by Liberty Utilities, one on each the north and south shore, to provide information about the utility's new de-energization plan during emergencies.

Since July 2018, the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) requires utilities to develop a plan to shut off power only as a last resort and
for a good reason in order to protect public safety.

Liberty's workshops will be to share information and answer questions about their plans. The two opportunities for the workshop are as follows:

Monday, October 8 @ 10:00 a.m.

LAKE TAHOE, Calif. - With an increase in the number of dead and dying trees in the Lake Tahoe region, Liberty Utilities has tripled the number of inspectors they use to identify trees that pose a risk to the utility’s infrastructure. The inspection program and subsequent removal of hazardous trees are designed to reduce the risk of power outages, potential wildfires, and to comply with State regulations.

Lake Tahoe is enjoying a sunny and clear day Tuesday as the next storm starts to brew in the northwest. Up to 20 inches of snow fell at Lake Tahoe area ski resorts, but with what is expected latter in the week that will be nothing.

Very heavy snowfall accumulations are forecast for the foothills and mountains of Northern California, the heaviest snow expected to begin Wednesday night with major travel delays possible by Thursday. This system will be the strongest storm this winter, with snow to be measured in feet, not inches.

UPDATE 12:42PM - Power has now been restored to all customers.

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UPDATE 12:00PM - Power is still out to 2,418 NV Energy customers. The power company estimates they will have power restored by 2:00 p.m. Monday. All Liberty Utilities customers have had their electricity restored.

It's been a decade in the planning, with a long permitting and environmental process broken up by a lawsuit, but Sierra Colina is finally on the last lap of becoming a new housing project on the South Shore.

The 18-acre parcel in-between Lake Village and Sushi Pier will have 44 single-family homes and side-by-side townhouses ranging in sizes from just under 2,200 sq. ft. to 2,900 sq ft. They will be three- and four-bedroom homes to meet the different needs of the buyer according to Brian Helm, of Paradigm8 Partners, the developers of the project.

The following are incidents the South Lake Tahoe Fire Rescue department responded to from January 9 - January 31 , 2017.

1/9: 9 calls: 5 EMS, 1 interfacility transfer, 1 public service call, 2 no incidents found

1/10: 19 calls: 8 EMS, 1 interfacility transfer, 1 CO detector deactivation, 1 lock out, 4 power lines down, 1 no incident found, 2 public service calls, 1 building fire

With high winds and two to four feet of snow due at lake level by Monday morning, Liberty Utilities is alerting Lake Tahoe area residents to expect possible extended power outages. They are asking people to be prepared and not be caught off guard like many were during last week's storm caused outages.

Power is back on to the 136 customers in the River Road area off of SR-89 after last week's storm severely damaged power lines.

"We also want to sincerely thank those hardy customers for their patience and understanding during this multi-day outage until we could reach and repair the severe damage caused by the winter storms. At this time, most if not, all customers should have power restored," said Liberty Utilities spokesperson Kathy Carter.

5:30 p.m. update Thursday - The Tahoe Keys and Tahoe Mountain area has just lost power temporarily. The West Shore has been restored from Tahoe City South to Sugar Pine Rd. and HWY89 (735 Customers). South Shore crews are deployed and working on six primary wires serving multiple areas. Restoration times are estimated between 8:00 p.m. tonight and tomorrow afternoon. Tahoe Pines Area (Barker Pass Rd. to Cherry St.) has very heavy damage with multiple poles down that requires helicopter repair. Weather permitting, helicopter repair will start tomorrow.

2:00 p.m. update - Power has been restored to a majority of customers in the Northstar, Squaw, Olympic Valley, Alpine Meadows, Glenshire, Martis Camp and Truckee areas. Liberty Utilities anticipates customers in Kings Beach, Tahoe City and Portola/Loyalton will also be restored today, Wednesday.

There are still challenges to restoring power from Emerald Bay to south of Homewood.

No word on how many South Lake Tahoe customers are still without power, or how long to get it back on.

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The University of Nevada Seismological Lab operates around Lake Tahoe and Western Nevada to monitor earthquake and wildfire data, but now they're helping with flood monitoring.

They have placed a temporary camera above the Truckee River at on Arlington Street in Reno. The view is updated every minute and can be seen here: http://floodwatch.nvseismolab.org/

Good morning Lake Tahoe skiers and riders! If you are visiting, welcome to Lake Tahoe.

Today is Thursday, December 8.

UP TO 4” OF FRESH SNOW & MIXED PRECIPITATION REPORTED AT RESORTS… GORTEX IS THE WORD OF THE DAY…
WINDS ARE IMPACTING OPERATION OF UPPER MOUNTAIN LIFTS… TAMARACK EXPRESS AT HEAVENLY ON WIND HOLD; UPPER MTN LIFTS AT SQUAW ON WIND HOLD… SUMMIT SIX AT ALPINE ON WIND HOLD… CALL AHEAD.
R1 & R2 CHAIN CONTROLS POSTED ON MOST HIGHWAYS IN AND AROUND LAKE TAHOE. I-80 IS OPEN WITH NO CONTROLS (CARRY CHAINS).

The following are incidents the South Lake Tahoe Fire Rescue department responded to from October 12 to November 8, 2016.

10/12/16: 11 calls: 4 EMS, 1 interfacility transfer, 1 woodland fire, 2 water or steam leak, 1 no incident found, 1 smoke scare/odor of smoke, 1 CO detector activation

10/13/16: 11 calls: 5 EMS, 1 police matter, 1 call to assist invalid, 1 smoke detector activation-no fire, 1 good intent call, 1 canceled en route, 1 interfacility transfer

8:00AM update 10/15: Highway 89 remains closed in both directions from Fallen Leaf Lake Road to Emerald Bay due to the Emerald Fire which remains 80 percent contained this morning. Acreage burned is 210 acres.

The cause of the fire is under investigation.

There are 3 engines and 12 firefighters still on the scene.

Opening time for Hwy 89 is still unclear. CHP estimates Saturday afternoon and Caltrans estimates the road will be closed until Monday. This is to allow crews to clean up the fallen trees and other debris on, and near, the roadway.

A father and his five children were rescued by the California Highway Patrol after becoming stranded in a wooded and snowy area of El Dorado County for hours, according to officers.

The family of six went on an off-road excursion about 8 a.m. in the Ice House Reservoir area, but realized they were lost soon after.

The Elk Grove father named Ed called the CHP about 2:30 p.m. and told them that his pickup truck had begun sliding toward a cliff, and that he had been holding the brake pedal with both feet for some time to prevent it from going over the edge, the CHP said.

Liberty Utilities will begin construction to upgrade its existing 650 electrical line on or around August 3. Prior to this date, the public may see materials staged and vegetation management activities occur in preparation for the project.