Tahoe’s wildfire season is now
Locals have longed joked about Tahoe’s two seasons – winter and road construction. But now locals and visitors must live with the new reality that climate breakdown has wrought upon the beloved landscape of the Sierra Nevada – wildfire season.
It’s always been there in the back of our minds knowing that it could happen. We’ve seen fires that could have been far worse – the Martis Fire in 2001 west of Truckee; Angora (South Shore) and Talmont (West Shore) fires in 2007; and countless smaller fires throughout the Tahoe Sierra.
But the summer of 2021 frightened us all. First, the Tamarack Fire started on July 4 burning areas around Markleeville. Then, the Dixie Fire ignited on July 13 and raged for months northwest of the Sierra Valley destroying entire towns. On Aug. 14, the Caldor Fire erupted southwest of the Tahoe Basin. The quick-moving fire engulfed forests and homes, forcing the evacuation of areas of Lake Tahoe’s South Shore on Aug. 30 as it entered the Tahoe Basin. It took 3 months to fully contain it.
As California and Nevada continue to face extreme drought conditions, in early May the Tahoe Fire and Fuels Team released its 2022 Wildfire Outlook (available at TheTahoeWeekly.com) warning of “above-normal significant fire activity” for June and July. The report was released on May 3, the same day a small wildfire broke out at Rabe Meadows at Stateline. It was quickly extinguished, but it could have been so much worse.
The lesson here is be prepared. Have your Go Bag ready (including for your pets), know how and where to evacuate to, do your defensible space now. To help, you’ll find our 2nd annual Wildfire Preparedness Guide in this edition and at issuu.com/TheTahoeWeekly.com.
Save it, use the checklists, download it, share it online, share it with your neighbors (locals and second homeowners) and send it to your friends.
Many thanks for our sponsors of the guide. Without their financial support, we wouldn’t have been able to include so much information in this edition. As always, please support our sponsors and clients in turn by visiting their businesses and saying Thank You. Tell them Tahoe Weekly sent you.
Washo spelling
If you read the Tahoe Weekly regularly, you may have noticed that we dropped the “e” off the end of Washo earlier this year when referring to one of the tribes native to the region we cover. Washo is the preferred spelling by the tribe, so we removed the “e” in deference to them. We will only use Washoe when referring to entities that use that spelling as part of their proper name, like Nevada’s Washoe County.
As well, Mark McLaughlin vets his historical references of the Washo and spellings with the tribe. As journalists, we wouldn’t typically allow anyone to review our content in advance of printing, but we’re making an exception for the Washo given so much of their own history has been told by non-native people. We look forward to working with them more in the future and sharing their stories with our readers.
—
Nothing quite compares to paddleboarding on Lake Tahoe on a calm morning. It’s No. 42 on our Ultimate Tahoe Bucket List available in this edition and at TheTahoeWeekly.com. Have fun tackling our 107 items and tag your adventures @TheTahoeWeekly. | Paul Hamill Photography, paulhamillphotography.com, @PaulHamillPhotos
