TIMELINE:

Year 1 (2024) Education and Outreach

1. Conduct a town hall to inform the community of the steps involved in becoming a Firewise Community and our progress to date. This meeting will also include information about what individual TKPOA members can do to support the endeavor (home hardening, defensible space, and current conditions of wildfire danger.

2. Develop mailing (electronic and through the Keys Breeze) to Tahoe Keys residents, property owners, commercial properties and the TKPOA within the Tahoe Keys community. Send at least 2 mailings a year related to the Firewise Community.

3. Develop and maintain a Tahoe Keys Firewise USA community website, attached to the existing TKPOA website.

4. Provide information to members on a community workday.

Home Hardening

1. Continue regularly scheduled meetings with the Tahoe Keys Neighborhood Firewise USA Committee and the South Lake Tahoe Fire Rescue (SLTFR) to develop and implement defensible space and home hardening strategies and activities and to convey they conversations to TKPOA members.

2. Provide members with a means to capture volunteer work hours and money spent on home hardening and defensible space work.

3. Provide information on fine mesh screening for all vents and chimneys to minimize ember intrusion.

4. Encourage residents to remove wooden fences that abut their houses and to replace them with non-combustible fences.

5. Encourage homeowners to remove wood that is piled near their home.

Fuel Reduction

1. Seek community cooperation/support to reduce combustible material by 50% in the next 3 years in order to mitigate the potential for tree torching and ember production during a wildfire.

2. Maintain defensible space on common areas.

3. Encourage homeowners to not cover wood piles outside with tarps.

Evacuation Planning and Wildfire preparedness

1. Initiate an effort to standardize address markings.

2. Send a mailing to all TKPOA about the evacuation routes devised by the City of South Lake Tahoe.

3. Post evacuation routes within the community

4. Send a mailing and write an article in the Keys Breeze to inform all residents about what they should do in advance to prepare for a wildfire at their home and what they should have prepared in their “go bag.”

Year 2 (2025) Education and Outreach

1. Continue to seek community support to reduce combustible materials by 50% in the next 3 years.

2. Conduct a town hall to keep homeowners appraised of the efforts to become a Firewise USA Community.

3. Share resources for defensible space work, sources for approved fire resistance tarps,

4. Provide information handouts to members on community workdays.

5. Encourage homeowners to maintain defensible space around their house.

6. Display and distribute Fire safety brochures at the bulletin board and within the TKPOA pavilion.

Home Hardening

1. Develop and initiate fundraising activities to offset costs and provide additional local services to residents/property owners.

2. Cooperate with the TKPOA to manage properties owned by the TKPOA and with commercial properties to advise on their improvement initiatives.

3. Offer use of association vehicles for ground clearance disposal.

4. Provide information on screening for all vents and open areas to minimize ember intrusions.

Fuel Reduction

1. Continue to seek community support to reduce combustible materials by 50% in the next 3 years.

2. Conduct a town hall to keep homeowners appraised of the efforts to become a Firewise USA Community.

3. Develop a program utilizing volunteers to complete home defensible space assessments for residents/property owners.

Evacuation Planning and Wildfire preparedness

1. Continue the effort to standardize address markings.

2. Keep the TKPOA informed about the evacuation routes devised by the City of South Lake Tahoe.

3. Send a mailing and write an article in the Keys Breeze to inform all residents about what they should do in advance to prepare for a wildfire at their home and what they should have prepared in their “go bag”

4. Encourage a reflective address number for all residences.

Year 3 (2026)

Education and Outreach

1. Review all educational efforts and expand upon awareness of the threat of wildfire risks within the Tahoe Keys Firewise USA community.

2. Conduct a town hall to keep members of the TKPOA appraised of the progess of the Tahoe Keys Firewise community.

3. Share resources for defensible space work, sources for approved fire resistance tarps,

4. Provide information handouts to members on community work days.

5. Encourage homeowners to maintain defensible space around their house.

6. Display and distribute Fire safety brochures at the bulletin board and within the TKPOA pavilion.

7. Create a Tahoe Keys Firewise USA information packet for new Members with information on home hardening, defensible space and evacuation preparedness.

Home Hardening

1. Update architectural guidelines as needed to promote use of noncombustible materials in construction/renovation on construction permits.

Fuel Reduction

1. Continue to emphasize that all residents/property owners should maintain defensible space in the “Lean, Clean and Green” zone (0-30 feet) and that adequate treatment of fuels in the “Reduced Fuel Zone” (30-100 feet) will provide additional protection to improve the survivability of their home and other structures within the Tahoe Keys community.

2. Offer use of association vehicles for ground clearance disposal.

Evacuation Planning and Wildfire preparedness

1. Continue the effort to standardize address markings.

2. Keep the TKPOA informed about the evacuation routes devised by the City of South Lake Tahoe.

3. Send a mailing and write an article in the Keys Breeze to inform all residents about what they should do in advance to prepare for a wildfire at their home and what they should have prepared in their “go bag.”

4. Coordinate with South Lake Tahoe Fire Rescue to perform and evacuation drill with homeowners.

What we learned through this process:

1. After doing an assessment of 338 properties in Tahoe Keys we have learned that our community looks good! 99% of our roofs are in compliance, our roofing has a lack of debris and chimneys are located at lease 10 feet of limbs.

2. General areas for improvement include: c. Remove noncombustible materials that are within 5 feet of the structure. This includes removing mulch that are adjacent to the structure. d. Trim trees so that the bottom limbs are moe than 10 feet above the ground. e. Fencing attached to the home needs to be noncombustible, this means that wooden fences should not be attached to houses. f. Remove limbs that overhang the roof.

If accepted, what will happen in 2024:

1. We will hold a town hall in March of 2024 to explain what being a Firewise community entails.

2. We will distribute information to homeowners explaining what we can do to help us maintain our certification.

3. We will hold a neighborhood cleanup the first weekend of May.

4. We will communicate through the Keys Breeze and email blasts information about home hardening, go bags, evacuation routes and how individual homeowners can keep track of their time and expenses during the year to harden their homes and property.

The Tahoe Keys Firewise committee looks forward to working with community members to make this a reality. If you want to become involved in this process, please send an email to heather.blumenthal@ fsresidential.com. The more the merrier!