Placer County Public Safety Digest

The winter storm pounding the Lake Tahoe Basin with rain and snow has closed schools, ski resorts, caused travel disruptions and flooding and brought down a couple of structures.

Snowfall will wind down and a warm atmospheric river packing heavy moisture will hit the Lake Tahoe Basin on March 9.

North Tahoe Fire Protection District has seen an alarming increase in calls for gas leaks, carbon monoxide emergencies and other hazards resulting from storms.

A third snow survey has been completed and it's been reported that the current snowpack is comparable to the largest on record. This much snow has not been reported since the 1982-83 season.

Town engineer Merrill Buck will present information on road conditions to the Loomis Town Council. The city recently won a grant award for road repairs.

A fund transfer request to finally remove Highway 49 bridge debris from the American River has been approved. The debris has littered the river since the 1964 bridge break.

Folsom Lake Crossing will be receiving a long-anticipated upgrade and repair work to improve traffic safety. The area is frequented by residents of both Sacramento and Placer counties.

For the first time in decades, community members and city, state and federal officials met next to Lincoln’s former Titan 1 Missile Silo Site to discuss removing the site’s spreading contamination.

A report from the USDA Forest Service reveals about 36.3 million trees across 2.6 million acres of federal, state and private land died in California in 2022.

The city of Auburn is getting closer to increasing its fire safety inspection program as the council discussed a fee study. Auburn City Fire Department Chief Dave Spencer presented the findings, saying, “If we don’t recover fees, that money comes out of the general fund.”

The Newcastle Fire Protection District has a new home in Station 41. Located at 9350 Old State Highway, just off Interstate 80, the 6,939-square-foot building has living quarters, a reception area and apparatus room.

Steve Leighton, fire chief for Meeks Bay and North Tahoe fire protection districts, says the best way to stay safe is to plan and be prepared before a weather event arrives.

The strong storm system moving into Lake Tahoe on Jan. 10 is affecting travel, closing schools and possibly creating delays at ski resorts.

Following years of research and analysis of current fire trends, Cal Fire will update its map of fire hazard severity zones that ranks rural and unincorporated areas based on anticipated risk of wildfires.

A Placer County agency has filed a lawsuit against Pacific Gas & Electric Company from damages related to California’s largest wildfire of 2022.

Higher monthly bills might jolt PG&E customers in the wake of the utility's request for additional revenue due to the company's spending on wildfire mitigation and catastrophic events.

Facing a mental health crisis, Cal Fire crews sought less of a workload. But they have to wait two years under their new contract.

The Olympic Valley Community Wildfire Protection Plan was approved of by the district and will now be reviewed by Cal Fire, USDA Forest Service, Firewise USA and the Placer County Board of Supervisors.

Permits, available per calendar year, are now being issued; burnpermit.fire.ca.gov outlines restrictions and requirements.

Pacific Gas and Electric Company is offering direct payments for those whose homes were destroyed in the 2022 Mosquito Fire. In a filing with the SEC, executives project a "probable" loss of $100 million in connection to the forest fire.

Auburn Police Department’s Jennifer Solomon retires after 30 years; she was Auburn's first-ever code enforcement officer.

A new use for Tahoe City’s old Fire Station 51 is under consideration by Placer supes; Climate and Wildfire Institute may be a tenant.

Bureau of Reclamation contracts goats to devour brush in Auburn State Recreation Area; prevention work will extend for years, but no trail closures anticipated.

State regulators plan to impose a $155.4 million fine against PG&E Corp. over the Zogg Fire, which killed four people in Shasta County. PG&E is already under criminal indictment in the fire, and has pleaded innocent to manslaughter and other charges.

Scientists at the University of Nevada, Reno, are using a variety of new technologies with massive amounts of data and computational power to model and map fire-vulnerable forest vegetation across millions of acres in California.

The Mosquito Fire is 100 percent contained, according to an incident report from the U.S. Forest Service, though smoke from “small islands of unburned vegetation within the perimeter may be more visible on Monday as drier conditions arrive.”

Gas stoves in California homes are leaking cancer-causing benzene, researchers found in a new study, though they say more research is needed to understand how many homes have leaks.

Placer County Sheriff’s Office launches app; citizens can receive alerts, view crime maps, search for sex offenders, and view the list of the county’s most wanted.

A study by researchers at UCLA and the University of Chicago says that California’s wildfires of 2020 destroyed 4.2 million acres of forest—and erased years of progress the state made on battling climate change.

Insurance Commissioner Ricardo Lara, trying to ease an insurance crisis that’s hurt rural California, has announced that all carriers active in fire-prone communities must incorporate his “Safer from Wildfires” program into their premiums.

According to the first in a series of reports to come from a consulting firm hired by California officials, PG&E’s efforts to improve wildfire safety are hindered by aging equipment, damaged power poles and hazardous trees that went undetected by the utility’s crews.

One of California’s top elected officials announced steps to limit how developments can be built in areas that are at highest risk of wildfire. Attorney General Rob Bonta released guidelines for local governments to follow when they are deciding whether to approve subdivisions in the “wildland urban interface.”