from the City of South Lake Tahoe, THANK YOU FIREFIGHTERS AND FIRST RESPONDERS

The City of South Lake Tahoe would like to thank the firefighters and first responders for all of their efforts during the Caldor Fire. These brave individuals worked tirelessly to battle the fire and prevent structure loss in the Tahoe Basin. In addition, we would like to thank Lake Tahoe Unified School District and Tahoe Transporation District for their support in evacuation transport, law enforcement from all over the state for helping to protect our properties during the evacuation and repopulation, and the National Guard for providing protection to our community by securing checkpoints.

Throughout the community, signs and posters are still visible showing so much gratitude for the firefighters and first responders. We cannot express enough how grateful we are as a City and community for all of the firefighters' and first responders' efforts. While this was a challenging time for many, our community has been truly resilient as we get back on our feet. We are #Tahoe Strong and #SierraStrong!

A Thank you message from pOLICE CHIEF David Stevenson:

August and September were challenging times for South Lake Tahoe and El Dorado County. The Caldor Fire affected the lives of hundreds of people who lost their homes and thousands who evacuated. I want to thank the people of South Lake Tahoe and the surrounding area for their support, and for how you handled the evacuations on August 29th and 30th. I would also like to thank all the City employees, allied law enforcement, fire agencies, and others who helped get us through this. I know the recovery for those who lost their homes and the damage to our forest will take years to recover from, and I am confident we will get there together.

A message to the Community from fIRE Chief cLIVE Savacool

As the summer comes to a close, we all are able to take a deep breath and appreciate the calmness of cooler weather and a shoulder season. The Tamarack Fire and the Caldor Fire put our community to the test, and we can all look back and take a renewed level of appreciation for what we have and what we went through to protect it. In modern history, there has never been a fire that came from outside and moved into the Tahoe Basin. And yet, one finally did.

In reflecting back to the events of this summer, we actually had steps that set us up for success without even knowing it at the time. It began with the city adopting strategic priorities that included developing a new evacuation plan for the community. Over the spring, the Fire Department and the Police Department worked with other law enforcement and fire agencies in the Basin and surrounding jurisdictions to develop a new collaborative evacuation plan.

Although it had not yet been adopted by City Council, during the Tamarack Fire, city leaders informally got together with other stakeholders and developed a plan should the city need to activate its Emergency Operations Center (EOC), located at City Hall. Although the EOC was never activated, in hindsight, that interaction with other stakeholders and planning meetings proved extremely valuable as a dry run for an evacuation.

On August 3, less than a month before the city was evacuated, the City Council adopted the new evacuation plan for South Lake Tahoe. On August 14 the Caldor Fire started and began to move east. Despite some initial days with the fire moving at a rapid rate, in general, the fire was slowly progressing towards Tahoe. With this in mind, and the Tamarack Fire fresh in the city leadership’s mind, on August 21 the City activated its EOC at City Hall. At the time, the perception from some of the agencies involved in the fire felt like we were jumping the gun and that opening our EOC might send the wrong message to the citizens of Lake Tahoe with the mindset that the fire would never reach the Basin. We heard countless times, the previously mentioned phrase “a fire from the outside never made its way into the Basin”.

Over the week of the 22, the City’s EOC used the time to begin preparations should an evacuation be necessary. Although we had our doubts that an actual evacuation would ever occur, with the fire jumping the bulldozer lines near Echo Summit on the night of August 29, it appeared that it was inevitable. From what we all have seen on the news, we expect to see chaos, but when we sent out the first evacuation orders at 9:18 am on August 30, the evacuation of thousands of people went relatively as planned, despite four hours of heavy traffic.

The three main components that led to its success were planning, acting early, and relationships. With an adopted plan in place and a dry run with our team during the Tamarack, we had planning in place. We acted early in the entire process by activating our EOC early on to ensure proper time to prepare. We also acted fast on calling for the evacuation knowing that it was better to go too soon than be too late. And then our relationships with stakeholders and community members are what made it go as smoothly as it did. We spent the week leading up to the evacuation prepping with all the community stakeholders so when we called for the evacuation, everything was coordinated and clear. There were a number of lessons learned, but nothing stood out as a mistake or a failure. Should we ever be faced with this situation again, we will be that much more prepared.

Once the evacuations were completed, our focus fell on taking care of the first responders, protecting the community, and getting our residents home as soon as it was safe. We also wanted to make sure our residents, wherever they were, had good clear communication from us to reassure them that their homes and community were being looked after. We conducted numerous news interviews a day to provide updates, especially since we wanted to get in front of the camera and speak directly to our residents. Although a lot of the Country may have been watching, our purpose was to speak to our community members so that they knew we were doing everything we could on their behalf. Furthermore, we participated in the 5 pm community meetings every night to stay informed with the latest updates on the fire.

The decision on the timing to repopulate the community was not an easy one, our goal was to get everyone home as soon as it was safe and with the fire in a state where we were not at risk of having to call for another evacuation. This topic of discussion was at every level with the Incident Management Team assigned to the fire as well as other stakeholders that would be involved in rebuilding our community services. A lot more goes into putting an entire city back in business than most people would think. Again, it was the city leadership’s relationships with our amazing community partners that made this all a success.

At 3 pm on September 5, evacuation orders were lifted for most of the South Lake Tahoe Area. Some of us took a break from the EOC to go outside on Highway 50 to greet our residents coming home and it was quite an emotional experience. With all we, as a community, had been through over the two weeks prior, seeing our residents driving home with their cars full of their most prized possessions, honking their horns, tearfully waving to the exhausted firefighters and police officers, it really put into perspective what a great community we have. It is not the fact that we live in one of the most beautiful locations on the planet, it is the people that make Lake Tahoe what it is. Thank you everyone, you all should be proud. And of course, welcome home…

Caldor Fire Rehabilitation Response

As a part of the post-Caldor Fire response, the city initiated proactive actions immediately afterward to protect infrastructure and the environment. Public Works staff conducted field assessments of dozer lines constructed upslope along the edge of city limits, which were created on land owned by the California Tahoe Conservancy and U.S. Forest Service. Efforts focused on creek crossings, stream environment zones areas, and steep slopes above the city.

Based on reviews of fire perimeter maps, dozer lines, and burn severity maps, the city proactively cleaned storm drains downslope of affected areas, and initiated street sweeping to remove residual ash to protect lake clarity and remove excess debris that could obstruct drainage conveyance systems.

City staff also participated in interagency meetings and field assessments with the U.S. Forest Service Burned Area Emergency Response (BAER) and CalOES Watershed Emergency Response Team (WERT). The city worked with other partner agencies to rapidly assess and respond to the burn areas and fire suppression disturbances to reduce the potential for impacts of debris flows or erosion on city infrastructure and the natural environment.

City of South Lake Tahoe, USDA Forest Service, and the Federal Aviation Administration Investing in Airport to Fight Forest Fires

City of South Lake Tahoe Airport’s importance as a regional fire-fighting asset was first demonstrated during the 2007 Angora Fire, which started adjacent to the North Upper Truckee Road subdivision. Since then, the Airport has completed several defensible space/hazardous fuels reduction forestry projects, upgraded Airport backup emergency power infrastructure, and established the Airport as a temporary public shelter refuge.

The North General Aviation Ramp required replacement made a significant difference in 2021 and Tamarak and Caldor fires. The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) Airport Improvement Program, Caltrans Airport Improvement Program, and the CARES Act funded 97% of the North General Aviation Ramp project costs. The North General Aviation Ramp was reconstructed with fire-fighting helicopter operations in mind. Consulting with Chris Anthony and Mike Deacon of CAL-FIRE Amador-El Dorado Unit, the Airport sought to upgrade airport facilities for an increasing role in regional fire-fighting incidents. Based on the California fire season in 2019 and 2020, City realized time was of the essence. Working with the FAA, the Airport accelerated this $5.2 million reconstruction project. As initially anticipated, the north general aviation ramp reopened on June 30th, 2021, rather than October 25th, 2021. The collective efforts of Jviation, Inc., Airport Engineer; Meyers Earthworks, Inc. Prime Contractor; and the FAA were instrumental in these efforts.

Three weeks after reopening the north general aviation ramp, Carrie Thaler, US Forest Service Forest Fire Management Officer contacted the airport with an immediate need to station aerial fire-fighting aircraft at Lake Tahoe in response to the Tamarack Fire burning in the Mokelumne Wilderness. The Lake Tahoe Airport would not have had the room to host fire-fighting aircraft without reopening the north general aviation ramp.

After the airport concluded its role in the Tamarack Fire at the end of July, the Caldor Fire threatened South Lake Tahoe in August. The US Forest Service and CAL-FIRE continue to utilize the Lake Tahoe Airport as a base of operations responding to the Caldor Fire. During the 2021 Fire Season, the Lake Tahoe Airport has played an important supporting role in USFS/CAL-FIRE interagency response efforts.

The Airport’s supporting role included:

• The Airport served as City of South Lake Tahoe Emergency Operations Center in late August
• Nine Type II Fire Fighting Helicopters based at Airport
• • Two Amphibian CL415 Super Scoopers Fixed Wing Aircraft based at Airport
• • Two Amphibian CL415 Super Scoopers Fixed Wing Aircraft based at Airport
• • Two Heavy Lift Fire Fighting Helicopters based at Airport
• • Caldor Fire Vehicle Fueling Depot September 1st to 5th
• • Caldor Fire Ground Support Base September 1st to present
• • Caldor Fire Heli-base September 1st to present
• • USDA Forest Service Burned Area Emergency Response Team Aerial Support base
• • Logistics location for 100 + fire-fighting personnel during the incident peak
• • One temporary mobile air traffic control tower deployed 9/14/21-present

The City is thankful to Federal Aviation Administration, Caltrans Division of Aeronautics, and the CARES Act for making an essential investment in American fire-fighting aviation infrastructure and the first responders whose professionalism and service saved South Lake Tahoe from devastation.

SAVE THE DATE FOR THE STATE OF THE CITY

Don't forget to take the Local Hazard Mitigation Plan Survey

Public Participation in the planning process is an essential strategy for developing a plan that will be effective, supported by community members, and ultimately implemented. The purpose of the survey is to collect information from the public to better understand the vulnerabilities with the City, as well as solicit input on needs to best mitigate, or reduce the impacts of hazards before they occur. The planning process will also provide a range of opportunities for the City and its citizens, public officials, and stakeholder groups to participate and give input on the plan.

The survey, which was developed by Wood Environment and Infrastructure Solutions in coordination with South Lake Tahoe Fire Rescue, is being conducted online and is open now through Friday, November 12.

To learn more about the LHMP and to stay up-to-date on the process, go to https://www.cityofslt.us/LHMP. If you are ready to fill out the survey, go to the following link: https://forms.office.com/r/0Kn3VE2QgJ.

Snow season is here, are you ready?

• Keep all objects out of the right-of-way and behind snow berms, including your mailbox.
• Place your trash cans on the right side (when facing the street) of your driveway behind the berm.
• Do not park in the street or in the right-of-way, including the shoulder during snow removal operations. This can result in a $200 fine, plus additional towing and storage costs if your vehicle is towed.
• When shoveling or snow blowing your driveway, do not push or blow snow in the street, open ditches, or drainage basins. It is illegal and could become a hazard for motorists and pedestrians.
• Try to shovel driveways to the right side of the road (when facing the street) so the plow does not push the same snow back into the driveway.
• Do not let children build snow caves or igloos in snowbanks near the streets.
• Please be mindful snow equipment always has the right-of-way and can back up at any time. Please keep a safe distance of 100-feet from any snow equipment.
• Maintain and mark your driveways with snow stakes. This helps the driver identify the beginning of a driveway. Berms are a residual part of snow removal; residents are required to remove their own berms. Please see City Code 7.05.440 Owners’/Occupants’ responsibilities.
• It is the responsibility of the homeowners and tenants to maintain and clear all sidewalks or walkways adjacent to their property and in a safe condition.

Any questions, you may contact us at (530) 542-6030; or on our Public Works Service Request Portal: https://www.cityofslt.us/726/Public-Works. Thank you, and be safe this winter season.

City’s Single-Use Plastic Bag Ban to Be Expanded

Back in 2013, the City of South Lake Tahoe was an early adopter of regulations on single-use plastic bags. Pollution from discarded plastic products breaks down into tiny bits called microplastics, which have been detected in the water around the world including Lake Tahoe. Discarded plastic bags can also end up blocking storm drains or being mistaken for food by wildlife.

On October 19, the City Council considered an ordinance that would expand the City’s ban on single-use plastic bags to be consistent with the statewide ban. Currently, the City’s regulations apply only to grocery stores and food vendors, but the ordinance would broaden the ban to retail stores with a pharmacy, convenience stores, and liquor stores. Additionally, a fee of at least 10 cents per paper or reusable plastic bag requested by a customer would be required at these establishments.

The best way to minimize pollution from single-use plastics is to avoid using them, so the next time you go shopping, remember to bring your reusable bags.