An image from September 2020 of Lake Tenaya in Yosemite National Park, with sunlight and shadows cast in the wildfire smoke hanging over the lake water.
Image credit: Chris Neklason contributed
Fire Season Begins with a Roar
A whiff of smoke on the breeze the other day had me thinking back to 2020.
I was up at our family cabin outside Yosemite that August, and one night watched the most intense thunderstorm of my life take place off to the east over the Sierra. Lightning lit up the sky and thunder crashed and boomed for hours, though little or no rain fell.
It was the same up and down California, and the next day, the state was on fire.
I was back up at the cabin a month later in September, and the smoke was so thick I donned goggles and an industrial respirator and headed up into the Yosemite high contry in search of breathable air. After driving a couple hours I found some up in Tuolumne Meadows, and remember hiking to the river and wondering if I should camp out for a few days.
That summer there were so many fires buring in the state, I'd found the best air in California and was loathe to leave.
Since then, more communities have become firewise certified, more homeowners have embraced defensible space, and more funding has been directed toward clearing beetle-killed trees in forests.
Hopefully, this summer won't see the return of the lurid yellow and orange skies of 2020.
Summer arrived this year on June 20, but fire season got here first with the ignition of the Corral Fire south of Tracy in San Joaquin County on June 1. Now 100% contained, the fire burned over 14,000 acres of grasslands and led to evacuations of some neighborhoods.
California wildfires are becoming larger, more frequent and more ferocious. ‘Malibu Burning’ author Robert Kerbeck shares simple steps you can take to protect your home.
The UC San Diego-managed ALERTCalifornia network of mountaintop cameras act as remote eyes for fire fighters, and the public.
Placer County's Homepage
Direct your browser to https://placer.californialocal.com/ to catch up on the latest news in California and Placer County. Bookmark the link and visit often, there's a lot happening in your community!
Recipe of the Week
Our friends at Sacramento Digs Gardening publish a recipe from their gardens every Sunday, which we feature here so you can start your week with some yum.
Big Brother Big Sisters provides children facing adversity with strong, enduring, professionally supported mentorship. The chapter serves Sacramento and Yolo counties, as well as southern Placer County.
With kids out of school for the summer, Acres of Hope, a nonprofit organization that focuses on helping women and children break the cycles of homelessness and trauma, is seeking volunteers to help in its children’s center.
In a coordinated effort to plan for the future of transit in western Placer County, the city of Auburn has teamed up with the Placer County Transportation Planning Agency and Roseville Transit to draft a regional transit analysis.
Building on the county’s Government Center Master Plan, the county utilized Community Development Block Grant funds to create potential future plans for private development opportunities for housing and an indoor/outdoor marketplace that aims to celebrate Placer County’s home-grown goods and …
According to the Truckee Dirt Union the Donkey Town and El Burro trail closures are expected to begin as early as next week, and will remain closed for the remainder of 2024.
A Folsom Assemblyman is pushing legislation that calls for more transparency on how the state is spending money on homelessness. The bill is in response to a state audit report which revealed the state spent $24 billion on homelessness, yet …
An ever-changing economy, hard-to-fill jobs, new technologies and preparing people to get good-paying jobs were the topics of a first-of-its-kind workforce summit held at Sierra College in Rocklin on June 18.
The Placer Mosquito and Vector Control District recently reported the invasive Aedes aegypti mosquitoes have been detected in two Roseville and Rocklin neighborhoods.
The Tahoe Truckee Unified School District has partnered with Placer School for Adults to ensure continued adult education programming for the Truckee North Tahoe Community.
CalFire has suspended all burn permits for outdoor residential burning within the State Responsibility Area of Nevada, Yuba, Placer and Sierra counties and bans all residential outdoor burning of landscape debris such as branches and leaves.
The Auburn City Council voted to declare a fiscal emergency and cancel all salary increases in their June 17 meeting, as the city faces an ongoing $825,000 annual budget deficit.
The Placer-Sierra Railroad Heritage Society meeting on Tuesday, June 25, will feature Paul Greenfield discussing the visit of the “Big Boy” to the Sacramento area.
The Sierra State Parks Foundation was born when a group led by local women of the North Shore of Lake Tahoe, persuaded the Department of Parks and Recreation to scrap its plans for razing the 1903 Ehrman Mansion after it …
• What You Need to Know About the California Budget Deal
Gov. Newsom and legislative leaders announce an agreement to bridge the state budget deficit by dipping into reserves and reducing some spending. The deal also calls for a bill in August to set aside more money and a 2026 constitutional amendment to grow the state’s rainy day fund.
• Environmental Groups Appeal Sites Reservoir Ruling
A new round of litigation began when environmental groups opposed to the Sites reservoir in Colusa County filed an appeal on a ruling which dismissed their suit seeking to halt the project from proceeding.
• In Rain, Snow and Drought, California’s Fights Over Water Rights, Supplies Persist
Legal rights to use water — particularly those obtained prior to 1914 — lie at the heart of California’s perpetual wrangling over the allocation of increasingly limited water supplies.
Rocklin Eagle Scout candidate Samantha Springer recently completed a landscaping project to spruce up the Rocklin Library. The 13-year-old gathered donations and worked with 67 people who dedicated a combined 259 hours to the project
Vitakraft Sun Seed Inc. of Weston, OH, is voluntarily recalling one lot of Sun Seed Vita Prima Hedgehog Food because it has the potential to be contaminated with Salmonella. Salmonella can affect animals eating the products and there is also a risk to humans from handling contaminated pet products,
What are the top five health issues in Placer County? Even as we continue to rank among the healthiest counties in California, Public Healths newly-released 2023 Community Health Assessment explores ongoing challenges.
Meranda and her son are among the families moving into the Sun Rose Apartments in Roseville over the next few weeks, with the first phase of renovations complete. Sun Rose, formerly a hotel, is the largest recent addition of permanent supportive housing.
Have you recently purchased a high-efficiency toilet or washing machine? You may be eligible for a refund. See the City of Lincoln's Water department webpage for more information.
An image from September 2020 of Lake Tenaya in Yosemite National Park, with sunlight and shadows cast in the wildfire smoke hanging over the lake water.
