SOUTH LAKE TAHOE, Calif. – With the devastating Southern California wildfires at the top of everyone’s mind, they put a new and urgent highlight on steps everyone can take to protect their homes everywhere, including Lake Tahoe. The 221,835-acre Caldor Fire in 2021 and the 3,100-acre Angora Fire in 2007 destroyed over 1,200 structures showing that fire is never far away.
As area fire agencies work on clearing fuels around communities, residents can do their part closer to home. Since this winter has been mild (so far), some steps can be started now, or at least planned for this spring.
South Lake Tahoe Fire Jim Drennan gives residents the top five things they can do to both protect and harden their homes. The Los Angeles fires showed how successful hardening homes can be. There are many more steps that people can take, but these ten steps are a valuable start:
TOP 5 THINGS TO DO AROUND YOUR HOME
- Within 5’ of your home should be nothing combustible. Use pavers, gravel etc.
- Keep wood piles well away from the home and preferably covered with a fire resistive cover/tarp.
- Within 5-30’ of your home it should be “lean, clean and green”. Remove dead plants, grasses and weeds.
- No dead leaves or pine needles within 30’.
- Trim trees to remove ladder fuels. Try to create separation of 10’ between trees as well as away from the home.
TOP 5 HOME HARDENING STEPS
- Replace shake shingles with metal or composition roofing material.
- Siding should be fire resistive
- Attic or crawlspace vents can be replaced with fire resistive vents (tight mesh that will not allow embers to enter the home)
- Remove combustibles (wood piles etc..) from decks as mentioned above
- Replace older single pane windows with double or triple paned. Will also help with energy efficiency.
The first five feet next to homes is now known as Zone 0 – Hardening this zone can help prevent embers from igniting materials that could spread fire to your home.
Many of these suggestions as well as Defensible Space requirements in South Lake Tahoe can be costly, but Chief Drennan says, “Homes with good defensible space and that have been hardened have a much better chance at surviving a wild fire.”
Pacific, Gas and Electric says that a fire burning in Zone 0 can prove to be as dangerous as one inside. They join others in saying to start work on the first five feet, and then go out when doing defensible space projects.
There are many resources available, including getting your neighborhood on board with the Firewise program. Representatives from South Lake Tahoe Fire Rescue and Tahoe Resource Conservation District will be at Cuppa Tahoe on Thursday, January 30, to share information from 10:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. to share the Fire Adapted and Firewise Community programs.
Tahoe Living With Fire contains information on several topics, including making your home safe, defensible space, and making your community safer. Tahoe Living With Fire was created through the Tahoe Fires and Fuels Team, a collaborative effort between all of the fire departments around Lake Tahoe, and agencies including the US Forest Service, California State Lands, the State of Nevada, California Tahoe Conservancy, CalFire, and the Tahoe Resource Conservation District.