Nevada County Public Safety Digest

A hurricane in the Pacific headed toward the California coast is projected to hit California as a tropical storm, marking the first time a tropical storm has struck the California coast in 84 years.

San Francisco isn’t going to take last week’s robotaxi decision by the California Public Utilities Commission lying down. Joined by the city's transit authority board, fire department and board of supervisors, San Francisco City Attorney David Chiu filed motions on Wednesday to halt the unrestricted expansion of autonomous vehicles for commercial use.

Supervisors unanimously agreed to support the reorganization of Rough & Ready Fire Protection District, Penn Valley Fire Protection District, and Nevada County Consolidated Fire District. The county will also provide gap funding to operate Rough & Ready Fire Station #59 while the reorganization is under way.

Locally elected sheriffs manage California jails and are responsible for the safety of the inmates they hold. Record deaths in San Diego’s jail are shaping a plan for new statewide oversight.

Gov. Gavin Newsom wants to make prisons a friendlier place for inmate families. An updated strip-search policy has some worried that families will face intrusive encounters during their visits.

Two recent reports on sexual harassment complaints filed against Cal State employees conclude inconsistent data collection makes it difficult to determine a reliable number.

The Biden administration’s app rule makes it harder for migrants to assert a right to asylum, advocates say. Lawsuits are sparking debate about immigration control, safety.

The California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection (CAL FIRE) has awarded the County of Nevada Office of Emergency Services (OES) with $3,914,536 to implement Phase II of the Woodpecker Ravine Shaded Fuel Break.

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.

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.

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 Climate Transformation Alliance is launching a new program to address building electrification in the region, called the Truckee Tahoe Building Decarbonization Pilot Program.

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

The Olympic Valley Public Service District Board of Directors passed a number of ordinances, approved of contracts and accepted a $45,125 grant to begin plans for fire mitigation work in the area.

The Quality Automotive Servicing van will visit you at any location in the servicing area that has a flat driveway or surface to complete the mobile service.

Three local fire districts announced their intention to explore reorganization as one new district at a meeting of the Local Agency Formation Commission.

The increasing fire danger posed by the high volume of dead grass and hotter, drier conditions in the region is prompting CAL FIRE to suspend all burn permits for outdoor residential burning within the State Responsibility Area of Nevada, Yuba, Placer and Sierra counties.

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.

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.

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.

A $171,000 request to refurbish the former Marine 24 and get it back on Lake Tahoe was approved by Douglas County commissioners.

The unseasonably warm temperatures at Lake Tahoe have prompted officials to issue a flood warning for a rapidly melting snowpack.

A magnitude-5.2 quake was recorded in Northern California May 11 in Plumas County, about 6 miles east of Lake Almanor.

The U.S. Federal District Court of Montana heard oral arguments April 17 for the Forest Service Employees for Environmental Ethics’ lawsuit against the U.S. Forest Service for the service’s discharging of fire retardant into national waters.

California Insurance Commissioner Ricardo Lara and California Sen. Marie Alvarado-Gil will speak at an event in May that will help residents understand new wildfire mitigation, insurance, and home inspection laws.

Truckee Fire has opened applications for its Wildfire Prevention Grant Program for up to $1 million in funding for fuel reduction and community preparedness projects.

California State Parks’ Division of Boating and Waterways, the Department of Water Resources and Cal Fire are urging the public to be aware of cold-water dangers this spring as record snowpack is causing flow levels not seen in years.

The 275,000-acre North Yuba Landscape within California’s Tahoe National Forest is one of the largest contiguous unburned areas in the Sierra Nevada. The Forest Service and a group of eight partners are working to implement a Wildfire Crisis Strategy in the area.

The Penn Valley Fire Protection District board of directors will discuss what the the possible annexation of the Rough and Ready Fire Protection District could look like.