Fuels Treatments in the Wildland Urban Interface (WUI): Lessons Learned from the Tahoe Fire and Fuels Team

This is an opportunity for the community of South Lake Tahoe to join the Tahoe Fire and Fuels Team and Cal Poly’s Fuels and Vegetation Education Program for a field-based training that spans multiple fires in the Lake Tahoe Basin. Participants will learn how representatives of Tahoe Basin fire agencies worked together to form the Tahoe Fire and Fuels Team with the goal of protecting lives, property, and the environment within the Lake Tahoe Basin from wildfire by implementing prioritized fuels reduction projects and engaging the public in becoming a Fire Adapted Community.

In this field training, we will visit several sites within the South Lake Tahoe community to better understand how the Gondola and Angora fires played a critical role in the outcome of the Caldor Fire. Participants will learn about how local fuels reduction projects helped to slow the spread of fire and decreased fire severity, protected resources, and ultimately saved lives, homes, and communities. The goal of this training is to provide an opportunity for participants to learn more about what  local agencies are doing  to prepare for and prevent wildfires in the Lake Tahoe Basin. This training is an opportunity for agencies to engage in skills-based advocacy building exercise with local community leaders in an effort to create consistent messaging within the community and grow the local network of Fire Adapted Communities.