Working against Wildfire

Tahoe officials look back on a year’s worth of effort toward fire safety

By Julie Brown
Sierra Sun, jbrown@sierrasun.com
May 5, 2008

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Efforts so far

• Consensus over pine needle management in the 100-foot defensible space zone. A “non-combustible zone” should lie within 5 feet of a structure and be free of dead or dry materials, including pine needles. Within 5 to 30 feet of a structure, pine needles should be raked once a year in the spring and then be allowed to accumulate. Beyond 30 feet, pine needles are acceptable so long as they are no thicker than two or three inches. • All new addition or modification construction projects requiring TRPA review must first be pre-approved by the local fire district or department. • Homeowners can now remove trees up to 14 inches in diameter without a permit, except in sensitive environmental areas such as stream zones and the shorezone area. • TRPA foresters and fire agencies have trained and certified fire professionals to be Defensible Space assessors, allowing more people to permit trees over 14 inches for removal. • An online database to track defensible space and fuel reduction work in the Basin is almost complete. The fire districts will be updating the database as defensible space assessments are completed. • An interagency Tahoe Fire and Fuels Team has been formed to prioritize and coordinate fuel reduction projects and collaborate on funding. The team will act as the sole reviewing and permitting panel for all large-scale fuel treatment projects. • In conjunction with the Tahoe Fire and Fuels team, the Fire Public Information Team will be coordinating outreach events and educational materials that directly interact with homeowners. • Residential BMP projects will begin requiring an intermediate inspection before infiltration trenches and dry wells are filled with gravel. • Application filing fee structure has been updated to implement fee deposit accounts for certain applications so that the TRPA’s costs are recovered for time spent on an individual application. • Air and Water Quality mitigation fees increased to reflect increasing construction costs to local agencies for environmental improvement projects. - Provided to the Sun

Beyond modifying tree-removal permits and clarifying the prescription for defensible space, Lake Tahoe officials say that the unprecedented level of cooperation, consistency and communication between regulatory agencies and fire officials is a critical achievement that rose out of the ashes of last summer’s devastating wildfires.

“There’s a level of cooperation and understanding between land management agencies and fire professionals that no one’s ever seen before,” said Jeff Cowen, spokesman for the Tahoe Regional Planning Agency. “I’ve seen meetings where fire folks are sticking up for water quality and where water quality folks are sticking up for defensible space. It’s just been a real culture shift.”

Cowen said that throughout all the countless meetings and discussions to improve fire policy and land management decisions, officials were focused on eliminating conflict to ultimately make defending property from wildfire easier for homeowners.

“One thing we heard a lot after the Angora wildfire was that our messages weren’t unified,” Cowen said. “So we’ve been working to really unify our guidelines and our goals because it really is, you know, a healthy forest means a healthy lake.”

In recognizing that fire safety is the top priority, North Tahoe Fire Protection Chief Duane Whitelaw said that basin agencies have found and agree upon a clear, simple and consistent message to convey to homeowners about what it will take to defend their property.

“It seems like everyone’s rowing the boat in the same direction,” Whitelaw said. “Which all is in the interest of fire safety in the Tahoe Basin.”

Of the nine areas of policy that Tahoe Basin fire chiefs highlighted last year to streamline defensible space efforts, Whitelaw said all had been addressed.

Increasing the diameter size of trees that property owners may remove without a permit (from 6 to 14 inches) to create defensible space was included among the nine-point list.

“To TRPA’s credit, they have really made an effort to meet the interests of the fire departments around the Basin,” Whitelaw said.

Acknowledging that the fire agencies are the professionals who will determine policy within 100-feet of a structure is “one of the single biggest accomplishments” that came out of the year’s discussions, Whitelaw said.

“It’s not the TRPA. It’s not the water board. It’s not the resource conservation district. It is the fire district that has the authority,” Whitelaw said. “That’s a huge step in clarifying what needs to go into this simple, concise message.”

Agreeing upon a prescription for defensible space in Tahoe, one that manages pine needle accumulation but also addresses erosion control, was another huge accomplishment in Whitelaw’s eyes. A “Living with Fire” publication detailing the requirements of defensible space zones will be sent out to every district property owner in the coming weeks.

“It’s one thing to enforce [defensible space], it’s one thing to ultimately have it happen, but we need here in Tahoe, as a prelude to all of that, was we had to reach agreement on what [defensible space] looks like,” Whitelaw said.

Another significant stride Whitelaw noted was the fire agency pre-approval stamp construction projects must have before they can submit their application to the TRPA.

Now its in your hands
Policy revision and change can only go so far. Now the success of the year’s progress lies in the hands of homeowners who need to carry out defensible space, and officials hope the changes that have been made will ease the process.

“We have the vision. We have the strategy of what it looks like now,” Whitelaw said. “And so everyone, whether its baby steps to giant steps, [needs to progress] towards that objective of creating a more fire safe basin. Because we know that we’ve got to protect this lake, and the homes and the people.”

With the start of Lake Tahoe’s grading season on May 1, officials hope homeowners will be thinking about wildfire protection and installing stormwater Best Management Practices, according to a statement from the TRPA.

The North Tahoe Fire Protection District will be amping up their inspection services this summer, as well as doubling their chipping capacity, hiring a fire-fighting hand crew and increasing their capabilities on red-flag warning days, those windy, hot and dry days that are especially prone to fire. This boost in services was made possible by the fire assessment voters approved last fall, Whitelaw said.

“The old analogy that your defensible space is as good as your neighbor’s is true,” Whitelaw said. “It’s not just about getting your home done. It’s about getting your neighborhood done, your community done, ultimately, the Tahoe Basin done.”

But how quickly the policy changes will translate to on-the-ground action on behalf of homeowners is still up in the air. Cowen said the TRPA anticipates a busy summer, but not as active as they would like it to be.

“We’re just not sure if the message is really out there yet,” Cowen said. “We know that the [Angora] fire has changed things in the Basin ... but human behavior is a little slower to change than popular opinion.”