KINGS BEACH, Calif. – In their latest Lunch and Learn, the Tahoe Truckee Community Foundation (TTCF) invited three speakers to talk about wildfire risk mitigation for homes in the region. They touched on what homeowners could do to protect their homes, how cross-laminated timber could potentially help new builds resist fire, and communicating with insurance companies that keep raising prices in fire-prone areas.

TTCF program director Kristina Kind opened with how this lunch and learn topic connected two of the organization’s biggest priorities: housing and forest health. She and Erika Veidis, the Forest Futures program director emphasized how important the forest is to the community, and Veidis added context on the necessity of returning the forest to a healthy density.

Eric Horntvedt, wildfire prevention manager for the Truckee Fire Prevention District, spoke about how entwined the residential areas are with the forest, and suggested ways for people to harden their homes. In 2007, the Wildland Urban Interface codes were established, which laid out specifications for home hardening against wildfire. However, roughly 1,200 homes in the Truckee and Donner area that were built prior to 2007 may not have those modifications in place.

Horntvedt told attendees that two major changes that could double the chances of a home surviving a blaze were switching to a nonflammable roof and making the Zone 0 of defensible space around the home clear. That’s because most ignitions that happen in neighborhoods start from embers, which can catch on the roof or surrounding area and grow to much larger sizes.

Other upgrades that Horntvedt spoke about included upgrading or maintaining decks, paying attention to unique constructions of houses that can collect flammable debris, and double pane windows, which reinforce homes from fire. Truckee Fire offers rebates of 50%, up to $2,000 a home to pay for home hardening. More details can be found on their website: https://www.truckeefire.org/hardenyourhome.

Jonathan Kusel, executive director of the Sierra Institute for Community and Environment spoke next on cross-laminated timber. Last September, TTCF awarded the Sierra Institute for Community and Environment a $1 million grant—the largest amount they’ve directed.

Kusel spoke about how cross-laminated timber as a building material was highly fire-resistant and could utilize the timber in the area once their facility is completed. He discussed his experience with building a biomass boiler facility in Quincy, Calif. and a roundhouse for the Maidu tribe in Greenville, Calif. In this region, cross-laminated timber would be primarily used for building housing, which Kusel said was at a comparable price to stick-built homes here.

Lastly, Ryan Valdez, managing director of RockRose Risk, talked about the company and how it helped to reduce insurance prices for wildfire-prone areas. Valdez spoke about how current insurance pricing for these areas are based on outdated data that doesn’t often take mitigation into account. But RockRose uses technology and real-time data to track wildfire risk, as well as working in-depth with clients to understand what mitigations they’ve put into place, which helps them get lower premiums.

The next Forest Futures event will be in-person at the Steve Randall Community Center on Thursday, May 22, where the topic will be Working in the Woods: Jobs in Forest, Fires, and Wood Innovation. The next Lunch and Learn will take place on June 13 and will be on Housing Lessons from Other Mountain Communities. For more information and to register, visit https://www.ttcf.net/events/.

Eli Ramos is a reporter for Tahoe Daily Tribune. They are part of the 2024–26 cohort of California Local News Fellows through UC Berkeley.