Truckee Fire District prepares for upcoming wildfire season

RENO, Nev. (KOLO) -Truckee Fire has unveiled a set of programs to reduce fuel and improve forest health.

After the Caldor Fire, Truckee voters passed a new tax called Measure T to ensure the resources and leadership were established for wildfire prevention. Several programs are active from this mitigation effort including free defensible space inspections to the community, free green waste removal, grant programs, and providing a Comprehensive Community Wildfire Protection Plan.

“May is wildfire awareness month. Homeowners know it’s time to put away the snow shovels and that it’s time to grab the rakes grab the chainsaws and create defensible space around your house,” said Truckee Fire Wildfire Manager, Eric Horntvedt.

Truckee Fire’s Forest Fuels Reduction and Forest Health and Resiliency Projects have allowed the agency to bring in different types of equipment to help with fuel reduction.

“We try to reduce the ground fuels and the latter fuels increase tree spacing, decrease density and try to improve forest health in strategic locations that provide firefighters a chance to hopefully make a stand if a fire does come. In the absence of fire land managers, we basically have to mimic that natural disturbance with our treatments and so that’s the goal. So, when we come in, we try and think about how this landscape would look if a fire had been allowed to continue and be a part of the ecosystem. We try to mimic that as landowners through mechanical treatments,” said Dillon Sheedy, Assistant Wildfire Prevention Manager & Forester.

Landowners, HOA, and land managers are encouraged to visit Truckee Fire’s grant page.

For more, click here.