CalFire sets up shop in Angora burn area

Residents of the area burned by the Angora fire have some new neighbors.

CalFire firefighters - as well as a CalFire engine - moved into Lake Valley Fire Protection District Station 5 on Boulder Mountain Court on June 23, as part of an executive order signed by California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger in May.

A full-time CalFire crew at the station is one of two in the Lake Tahoe Basin, and is a response to recommendations to Schwarzenegger and Nevada Gov. Jim Gibbons by the California-Nevada Tahoe Basin Fire Commission. The second engine and crew are stationed in Carnelian Bay, said CalFire Battalion Chief Mike Webb.

It's the first time CalFire has had full-time firefighters stationed in the basin.

"You've always had local and federal, but you've never had state," Webb said.

Beyond wildfire suppression, the CalFire firefighters will assist local agencies with day-to-day responses as needed, and conduct defensible space inspections for homeowners.

The CalFire crew hopes to inspect 200 properties for defensible space before this winter. The inspections are part of an effort to educate homeowners about the importance of taking steps to help firefighters defend property in the event of a blaze, Webb said.

"Most people are really willing to do (defensible space), they just need to know what to do," Webb said.

View Circle resident Susan Braun said she was glad to see the crew in the neighborhood as the CalFire crew showed kids from her day-care business around the fire engine.

The crew will be stationed on Boulder Mountain into the winter, when Webb will compile service statistics for CalFire officials to review.

The firefighters need few reminders about the importance of having adequate wildfire protection in the basin. "We can look out the window and see the effects of catastrophic wildfire right here," Webb said.