The wildfire season is off to a very wild start this year. Of course, it is 2020.
After a series of lightning storms, associated with only a small amount of rainfall, there have been multiple starts all over Northern California. The first fire to catch everybody’s attention was the Loyalton fire, approximately 35 miles north of Truckee. That fire gained national attention after it generated 4 different fire tornados, lasting up to 45 minutes. To date, 5 homes and 6 other structure have been lost in the 45,000 acre blaze.
Smaller blazes smoldered this week around the Bay Area, and a week of heat and dry weather brought them all to life last night. A fire near Lake Berryessa exploded and raced south overnight, burning homes and now pushing into Vacaville. A complex of 5 fires joined forces overnight in San Mateo County and is now burning into Santa Cruz County, threatening to erase the towns of Boulder Creek, Ben Lomond and Felton. For us that really hits home, as much of our family lives in that area and has evacuated, or will soon be evacuated.
Fire truly does scare me. We moved from Boulder Creek in 1986, fearing fire danger and the overwhelming fear of an evacuation in the San Lorenzo Valley. Similarly, we left Sierra City in 2003 for the same reason, besides loving skiing. We’re fortunate to now live in a area where we at least have a professional fire department and a reasonable chance of escape from a wild fire. But that doesn’t mean we are safe.
The last big fire in the Lake Tahoe area was the Angora Fire near South Lake Tahoe in 2007. Although the fire only consumed 3,100 acres, it burned 242 homes and 67 businesses. We learned a lot of lessons from that incident, and other more recent incidents, most notably the Camp Fire. Most residents are far more aware of what it takes to keep a home fire safe. They have had to do so, as many insurance companies have chosen to not write policies in our area any more. Those that have found insurance now pay double or triple their old rate.
But as much as we can do to keep our own home fire safe, we face some extra risks in Tahoe, some of which are beyond our control. We’ll probably see more episodes of lightning this summer, and we can only hope that they come with copious amounts of rain. That is all beyond our control.
One thing we can control is the threat of campfires. I’m hoping that local state parks and the Tahoe National Forest implement a fire ban in local campgrounds as soon as possible. Resources are stretched super thin across the state. To state the obvious, this is not a time to be playing with fire.
On August 20, a ban on campfires in all California State Parks in the Sierra District was implemented. This includes the Tahoe Basin, Donner Lake, Nevada City area and Johnsville areas. How about it Tahoe National Forest and Basin Management Unit?
Beginning August 21st, all campfires and charcoal fires are now banned in the Lake Tahoe basin. The ban is a coordinated effort between multiple agencies that serve the Tahoe basin. Details are here. We’re now looking at you Tahoe National Forest…time to ban campfires and get tough on dispersed camping outside of the Tahoe basin.
Those of us that have been around awhile know exactly what will happen. A campfire ban in campgrounds means that more campers will chose to camp in dispersed camping areas or illegal areas, where they hope nobody will notice their illegal campfires. It’s probably time to curtail dispersed camping this season as well. There’s too much at stake.
I can’t even imagine what would have transpired if a fire broke out in the Tahoe area last weekend. It looked like the busiest Fourth of July combined with the busiest New Years eve. An evacuation scenario would have brought our worst nightmares into reality.
Every time the idea comes up of limiting the number of people in the area, the argument is given that “Tahoe needs tourists”. What we don’t need is a maximum amount of tourists all year. There’s got to be a happy medium that allows smart businesses to survive, while not risking the safety of residents, visitors and the environment. We need to elect some local leaders that have the guts to protect this area, and not just continually encourage more growth and overtourism.
Nevada has already banned all campfires. California should do the same! Furthermore, “Dispersed Camping” is not allowed at anytime in the Lake Tahoe Basin!
If you leave the basin and head north or west of Truckee, you will see a very different story Jim…
Agree, I see dispersed camping all over outside the Lake Tahoe Basin and some illegal campers in the basin. Public Lands have been getting used heavily right from the start of the season from dispersed campers, hikers and mtn bikers. Hopefully things will settle down along with all the fires.
All due respect, and we love the West Shore too and our home there. We are not locals but spend many weeks and weekends at our home in the Sunnyside area. I agree and we are completely aligned around fire danger and a need for better planning in the event of a fire on the west shore. My issue is with the comments that ‘tourists’ or ‘2nd homeowners’ are bad or litter or dont care about Tahoe. I suggest that we redirect the conversation. Some locals litter and dont wear masks. Some 2nd homeowners clean up litter, donate to local charities, wear masks, support locql business, pay their property taxes and are good friends with their ‘local’ neighbors. Lets keep the stereotypes down and focus on good deeds by good people. Peace
Undoubtedly there are good second homeowners and some poor first home owners… this article is about things that create unnecessary fire dangers and the potential for evacuation disasters if Tahoe continues to exceed its carrying capacity.
Between fire season and Covid-19 it only seems logical to start limiting the number of ‘guests’ we can accompany at one time into our area. It’s also extremely apparent that our current ‘guests’ are lacking in education and manners during their visit. ( I site the lack of social distancing and the recklessness of leaving trash in our community.) Bad habits and lack of information lead to unnecessary hazards. From the increase in wildlife coming into human populated areas (racoons /bears/etc.) for trash leftovers; to carelessly left fires; whether camp fires or pits or BBQ’s. We all love this area for its beauty and natural aspects. Restoring it, should a fire break out will take a 100+ years.
Kudos to Mark for delivering a very well written depiction of what’s happening here in the Tahoe / Truckee area at this moment in time. Also, thank you for sharing your experience about why you moved to Tahoe and for raising the awareness to all of those that visit this area…including those of us lucky enough to live here.
Ditto to Larry’s comments….
Mark… all so well said.. these are scary times for a lot of different reasons… but this fire season is one of the worst. Sadly, there are too many careless and thoughtless actions and activities all around us. Defensible space is critical and there needs to be so much more done in that regard around so many homes.
Many (not all) of our part time home owners are not concerned about defensible space and I’ve had some say they like their trees too much 😳😳
Need to make sure all of our available hoses are hooked up and in working order and we all need to stay vigilant.
Thanks again Mark for your communication.
P S … dirt bikes speeding up the trails through the dry bushes/trees is very scary… last summer, one sparked a fire on the Agate road trail… luckily was caught quickly.