Tahoma Meadows
Wildfire Awareness in Tahoma
March 14, 2008
Fuel reduction is a hot topic. As we move into the summer season, the Tahoma Meadows Fire Safe Chapter is planning some events in our Tahoma community. This past winter the Tahoe basin fire districts and regulators have been actively engaged in planning fuels reduction projects across the entire Tahoe basin. Money is here for help and for large projects. You will see trees and brush being removed from private properties and public properties this year and for years to follow. Please know that this planning effort is nothing new. The Angora Fire and Washoe Fire allowed the fire protection districts to make some realistic recommendations to the regulatory agencies. The Tahoe Regional Planning Agency has responded to these requests from the Tahoe Basin Fire Chiefs Association by making key changes needed in regional code language. Those ideas have been taken to heart and we are now seeing some laws change that allow projects to be done in an efficient, environmentally sound method and most importantly, completely done. In the past it was difficult to complete forest fuels treatments that included stream environment zones. These areas are a critical element for community wildfire safety. Much of the Angora Fire ran through a stream environment zone.
This year we will still see burn piles built, left to dry for up to two years, and finally burned. We will see more prescribed fire in the larger areas, and we will see more mechanical fuels treatments done. There will always be a place for hand crews and expect to see more of these crews out there as well. These are elements of the larger fuels treatments that do not really apply to our homes and our personal defensible space, except that it is one half of the fire safety equation.
The purpose behind all this work is to protect our homes, and to that end, we need to do our part as homeowners. It is no longer (was it ever?) acceptable to expect the fire department to fully protect your home, regardless of the conditions in which it is built. Public Resource Code 4291 details the expected conditions that your home needs to meet in order to have “defensible space” If you have any questions on what your property needs, contact Meeks Bay Fire Protection District, and a representative will be happy to come out, meet with you personally and outline what steps need to be made. Meeks Bay Fire is here to help us meet these legally mandated expectations. They offer free curbside chipping services, as many times as you need. They will either take away the chips generated or they will leave them for your use or disposal. Meeks Bay is also offering free drop off days for pine needles, branches, wood and trees. If you can get it to your curb or to their fire station, they will dispose of it for you. Please remember, this service is only to be used for the products of creating or maintaining defensible space.
The Tahoma Meadows Fire Safe Chapter is a subsidiary of the Nevada Fire Safe Council. Why Nevada, because the Nevada Fire Safe Council (NFSC) has decided to offer their services to the entire Tahoe Basin. This makes sense, as we (the homeowners) get one stop shopping from a solid organization who have been working on this issue in the Tahoe Basin for some time and have actively maintained relationships with all of the fire districts and agencies. We in Tahoma benefit from this by being offered stipends for treatments on our properties. The NFSC will be offering to pay for half of our treatments for a total amount of $500-1000 per property. You simply need to have Meeks Bay Fire inspect your property for defensible space, have a licensed contractor do the work, have the NFSC inspect the finished product, submit your paperwork and wait for your check. The money is there and a certain amount has been earmarked for Meeks Bay Fire. This is happening folks! A further benefit to our community is the funding of a Wildfire Awareness Week event at the Marie Sluchak Park. This is tentatively scheduled for May 31st. Look for the final information to be posted at the Post Office in Tahoma. We will be demonstrating how easy it is to create defensible space, looking at how Best Management Practices dovetail with defensible space, and we will have a demonstration of a ShredVac that Michael Hogan owns that is a great way to take our native, flammable mulch (pine needles and pine cones) and turn it into a far less flammable mulch that we can use in our yards. More information on this day will follow at the post office HOA message box.
One last event that we are planning with Homewood, Meeks Bay Fire and Integrated Environmental Restoration Inc. is a defensible space drop off day in early June at the Homewood south Lodge. Stay tuned for an exact date. We will advertise this event in the local paper and you will see a banner along Highway 89 for a week prior. Get your stuff done, get some of the cost paid for and drop it off for free.
How much more motivation do you need? I guess another catastrophic fire could get us off our collective duffs (pun intended), but that is not what we want in Tahoma. So,… keep your ears and eyes open to these events and programs, Join the Tahoma Fire Safe Chapter, get your defensible space done, or maintained, and tell your neighbors to get theirs done too. You really are only as safe as your neighbor!
Thanks to Chapter Leader and North Tahoe Fire Protection District Fuels Manager Stew McMorrow for this update.
Chapter Leader: Stew McMorrow
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