FALLEN LEAF, Calif. – Fallen Leaf Lake is joining other communities within the Tahoe Basin after gathering together a new committee to oversee their Fire Adapted Community (FAC). Chief Chris Sauer, who previously served as fire chief at Fallen Leaf, spoke to the Tribune about the importance of the Fire Adapted community program and why it’s important for communities to join up around the lake.
The Fire Adapted Communities Network in the Tahoe Basin is a multi-agency program which is designed to help residents and visitors prepare for wildfire. The FAC Network is led by the Tahoe Resource Conservation District in partnership with local fire districts.
This program encourages wildfire education and community building, and as part of the program every FAC organizes yearly, they hold workdays where they help to reduce fire risks in neighborhoods by taking care of homes and the fuel sources around them.
The program can help to achieve Firewise recognition for neighborhoods. Through a grant from the Southern Nevada Public Land Management Act (SNPLMA), they also can provide fre chipping services and defensible space inspections.
Sauer, who has lived in Fallen Leaf Lake, began volunteering at the fire department in 1990 and has served as fire chief there two other times. He said, “Many special places in California have been impacted by fire and Fallen Leaf has always been a special place for me. It’s a place I would like to help protect.”
Over his career, Sauer said, “Prevention has been one of my passions and defensible space is one of the best ways to protect your neighborhoods, along with Firewise and FAC work, home hardening, ‘Ready, Set, Go!’ and other methods on the FAC wheel.”
Because the program partners with local fire departments, they work together on outreach to distribute materials and information about what kind of work needs to be done around an area. As part of the community, volunteer committee members plan and coordinate communication throughout the neighborhood, especially for a potential Firewise application and workdays.
Workdays are planned and executed by the FAC committee, where they work with neighbors to help with defensible space and clear potential fuels as a community. “Many hands make light work,” said Sauer. “Committees might also help identify parcels that need more help, especially if the people living there might have a hard time clearing it themselves.”
Committees also help establish information on vital information like evacuation routes. For Fallen Leaf Lake, given its one way road, evacuation has always been a community concern. Sauer emphasized the importance of paying attention to evacuation warnings and orders, and to be ready to go if needed. He also noted that during the four workdays the Fallen Leaf FAC will plan through the next months and into the summer, they could identify safe refuge areas and target evacuation routes that could use extra clearing.
“Luckily, stuff still grows here, which is great—we love our pine trees. But it means that you have to be doing that work as a community to manage their growth year-round,” said Sauer. “It really doesn’t matter where you are in Tahoe, fire is a hazard here and it’s all of our responsibility when we live in places affected by wildfire.”
By joining the program and other FAC groups around the lake, Sauer says that it helps make Tahoe as a whole more fire resistant. “The more of these communities there are, the more they reduce the bulk of flammable material in neighborhoods,” he said. “And the more of them are linked together, there’ll be less impact of ember storms through our communities during a wildland fire event.”
This first year is critical for an FAC, as the committee must introduce the program to residents and create connections with neighbors—but it’s an important task to establish what will ultimately bring more fire resilience to communities.
In 2022, California established the “Safer from Wildfires” insurance regulation to provide risk-based discounts to communities participating in Firewise. This was followed by the California Safe Homes Act, which could provide grants to low and middle-income homeowners doing fire mitigation, with a portal for applications potentially opening in March. For those worried about these costs, these changes could potentially help bolster more fire resilience in communities, with hopes that insurers will respond to the measures taken by neighborhoods.
“This gets neighbors together, and it’s nice to have them talking and working collectively to prevent fire from impacting our communities,” said Sauer.
