El Dorado County Public Safety Digest

El Dorado County health officials received confirmation that a bird found in the Lotus area of El Dorado County tested positive for West Nile Virus, the first this year.

Caldor Fire survivors are taking on the federal government, claiming the U.S. Forest Service failed to protect Grizzly Flats when the Caldor Fire ignited in August of 2021 and destroyed more than 400 of the 600 homes in the mountain community.

The Cameron Park Community Services District Board of Directors voted to begin the processes that could lead to annexation of the district’s fire department and/or placing a property tax assessment on the ballot to fund the fire department.

There’s a possible rise of four invasive animals in California—another consequence from downpours last winter and spring. The California Governor’s Office of Emergency Services warned about a potential population surge due to storm-related flooding.

The Conservancy will remove hazards associated with lead-containing paint on the barn, while maintaining the 1860s-era barn’s historical integrity.

According to Edward Miller, President of the Board of Directors for Meeks Bay Fire, “There will be absolutely no difference in services, because right now, we’re being serviced by North Tahoe Fire. So, whether the engine, or the back of the turnout coat says Meeks Bay Fire or North Tahoe Fire, it’s still North Tahoe firefighters and paramedics.”

Luis Yauri Oyola hopes one day to buy a tractor to start a business in Peru; he estimates that he is six years away from that goal, for which he will have spent more than a decade of his life living thousands of miles away from his family. He is on call 24/7 and doesn’t leave the job site except for necessities.

Following legal pressure from Center for Food Safety and courts, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has withdrawn its interim approval of difenoconazole, a potent fungicide sprayed on a wide range of fruits and vegetables.

The California Tahoe Conservancy has awarded two grants totaling $4,627,000 to build partner capacity for forest and wildfire resilience projects across the California side of the Lake Tahoe Basin.

Beginning the week of July 10, NV Energy and partnering agencies will continue to implement measures to reduce wildfire and natural disaster risk throughout the Lake Tahoe Basin and Southern Nevada as part of the Natural Disaster Protection Plan.

As nights warm and droughts intensify, past models predicting fire behavior have become unreliable. So California is working with analysts and tapping into new technology to figure out how to attack wildfires. Gleaned from military satellites, drones and infrared mapping, the information is spat out in real time and triaged by a fire behavior analyst.

The USDA Forest Service Lake Tahoe Basin Management Unit is scheduled to begin thinning trees by hand on July 10 on the south end of Prey Meadows north of Glenbrook on the East Shore of Lake Tahoe.

El Dorado County sheriff's detectives arrested a Cameron Park man suspected of peeping for the third time since 2020, sheriff's officials say.

The Rescue Fire Department has added two cutting-edge apparatus to its fleet: a Type 2, 2023 Pierce Freightliner fire engine and a 2023 Fouts Bros. Western Star water tender.

A June 27 decision by the Placerville City Council will begin the process of formalizing the Trip to Green project, an effort to mitigate congestion caused by Highway 50 stop lights.

The El Dorado County Sheriff’s Office received a portion of a $19 million grant from the California Highway Patrol to combat impaired driving.

A new safety education campaign from Take Care Tahoe is encouraging those who spend time in Lake Tahoe to wear a life jacket and “think before you sink.”

These new generation helicopters will replace CAL FIRE’s aging fleet of 12 Super Huey Helicopters.

After several public meetings and months of negotiations, the Cameron Park Community Services District Board of Directors unanimously approved a two-year fire service agreement with Cal Fire that will keep Stations 88 and 89 fully staffed at an amount not to exceed $10,601,450.

Summer fire restrictions are now in effect for the Tahoe Douglas Fire Protection District serving the communities of the Tahoe Township, until further notice.

The Tahoe Fund has partnered with the Tahoe Meadows Access Ramp Committee to raise $150,000 for a new accessibility ramp to the boardwalks.

Pacific Gas and Electric Company crews are undergrounding overhead power lines in the commercial area of Cool.

The State of California will provide new protections for prescribed fire and cultural burning practitioners. The $20 million allocated for the Prescribed Fire Liability Claims Fund Pilot will cover losses in the rare instance that a prescribed or cultural burn escapes control.

Stage 2 fire restrictions prohibit campfires and charcoal fires in the hot, dry, low-elevation areas of the parks, including Potwisha Campground and Hospital Rock and Ash Mountain Picnic Areas.

The California Public Utilities Commission approved a second area code (called an overlay) that will provide additional numbering resources while minimizing customer inconvenience in the geographic region served by the 530 area code.

The Washoe County Board of Commissioners voted to accept a grant from the Dave and Cheryl Duffield Foundation to be used for two new full-time deputy sheriffs and two new vehicles to be used by said deputies at Incline High School.

The concerts that have rocked the El Dorado Hills Town Center Steven Young Amphitheater for years are on hold due to the shopping center management’s alleged failure to comply with Department of Alcohol Beverage Control enforcement policies.

After California’s largest home insurance provider said it wouldn’t issue new policies, consumer and insurance industry groups have ideas for what they’d like to see California do. Here’s how the debate over four of those ideas shakes out.

South Lake Tahoe Fire Rescue and Lake Valley Fire Protection District have joined forces and developed a chipping program using grant funds through the Southern Nevada Public Land Management Act of 1998, and managed by the Tahoe Resource Conservation District.

North Lake Tahoe Fire Protection District has implemented Fire Aside's Defensible Space Evaluation software as part of an expanded commitment to improve residents' wildfire resilience, funded by Parasol Tahoe Community Foundation.

The U.S. District Court for the District of Montana ruled the U.S. Forest Service can continue to use aerial fire retardant to fight wildfires while waiting on a Clean Water Act permit.

As Lake Tahoe's water level nears its maximum height from a record snowpack, agencies helping protect the region from aquatic invasive species are preparing watercraft inspection stations and new equipment for paddlers.