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Having hosted two forums in the past two years, California Assemblyman Ted Gaines says he'll continue to hold meetings at the South Shore regarding wildfire risk in the Lake Tahoe Basin.
Gaines made the announcement at “Angora fire forum: Two years after the blaze,” a meeting at South Tahoe Middle School on Wednesday evening that was attended by about 40 people.
The Assemblyman said he has seen improvement in cooperation between various agencies in the basin since the Angora fire in June 2007, but said there is still work that needs to be done to fulfill recommendations by the California-Nevada Tahoe Basin Fire Commission.
Although the tone of the forum was more subdued than a similar meeting Gaines hosted a month after the Angora fire, attendees still expressed concerns about the risk wildfire poses to their community.
Among the concerns were that a lack of defensible space on adjacent properties could threaten homes with defensible space, that a recent lawsuit filed against the Lahontan Water Quality Control Board could hold up fuels reduction projects and that the Tahoe Regional Planning Agency still needs to be more accountable to local residents.
During a phone interview on Thursday, Gaines said he supports a Placer County ordinance that allows the county to implement defensible space on properties whose owners refuse to do it themselves, and then bill them for the work.
Gaines said he would follow up with the most prominent concerns expressed at the meeting, but said he “wouldn't even know where to start” with a suggestion from the audience that the TRPA be dismantled.
The Assemblyman said he intends to schedule a follow-up forum to keep an eye on agencies surrounding the state of wildfire preparedness at Lake Tahoe. A date has not been set for the next forum.
He said the basin has moved in a positive direction since the Angora fire.
“I think we have seen good progress, but I think we still have a ways to go,” Gaines said.
The assemblyman encouraged residents with complaints to call his office at (916) 774-4430.
Gaines made the announcement at “Angora fire forum: Two years after the blaze,” a meeting at South Tahoe Middle School on Wednesday evening that was attended by about 40 people.
The Assemblyman said he has seen improvement in cooperation between various agencies in the basin since the Angora fire in June 2007, but said there is still work that needs to be done to fulfill recommendations by the California-Nevada Tahoe Basin Fire Commission.
Although the tone of the forum was more subdued than a similar meeting Gaines hosted a month after the Angora fire, attendees still expressed concerns about the risk wildfire poses to their community.
Among the concerns were that a lack of defensible space on adjacent properties could threaten homes with defensible space, that a recent lawsuit filed against the Lahontan Water Quality Control Board could hold up fuels reduction projects and that the Tahoe Regional Planning Agency still needs to be more accountable to local residents.
During a phone interview on Thursday, Gaines said he supports a Placer County ordinance that allows the county to implement defensible space on properties whose owners refuse to do it themselves, and then bill them for the work.
Gaines said he would follow up with the most prominent concerns expressed at the meeting, but said he “wouldn't even know where to start” with a suggestion from the audience that the TRPA be dismantled.
The Assemblyman said he intends to schedule a follow-up forum to keep an eye on agencies surrounding the state of wildfire preparedness at Lake Tahoe. A date has not been set for the next forum.
He said the basin has moved in a positive direction since the Angora fire.
“I think we have seen good progress, but I think we still have a ways to go,” Gaines said.
The assemblyman encouraged residents with complaints to call his office at (916) 774-4430.
