It’s awfully early in the season to be having such a major fire, and right on the heels of three minor hillside fires around Reno. Please be careful out there.
Update: At least one of our agents has lost a home, and two more are out there helping to fight the fire. Given the seriousness of the situation, our Chase Great Estates Tour planned for Wednesday, June 27, has been postponed. Our blessings and prayers go out to all the families threatened by fire
and to the firefighters that are putting their lives on the front line.
Chase International will be setting up a food, clothing and blanket
drive to help those in need. Our offices will be the drop off point, then we
can deliver the goods to the appropriate places.
RGJ: Flames Engulf South Lake Tahoe, Hundreds Flee
LA Times: Fire Destroys at Least 165 Structures Near South Lake Tahoe
Tahoe Tribune: State of Emergency Declared
CNN: Tahoe Blaze Burns, Threatens Hundreds of Homes
You Tube: Picnic Interrupted
KOLO 8: Wildfire Destroys 220 Structures
KRNV 4: Forest Fire Burns 2000 Acres, 1000 Evacuated
KTVN 2: Angora Wildfire Burns 220 Homes Near Lake Tahoe
Living With Fire: Safety & Prevention
Reno Girl
I just dropped off a donation for the children affected by the fire. This is a time when we should all come together as a community to help those in need. Oh, and Guy, if you are planning on running the Reno Tahoe Odyssey again, (I saw a quote from you on the marketing card 🙂 – my company is a major sponsor and we have been in contact with Eric, the race coordinator. He is considering a couple of changes to the route because of the fire. Be sure to check the website, http://www.renotahoeodyssey.com for updates on the changes when they are announced!
Jeffrey learned
As long as humans put themselves above the environment, as if the wildland urban interface is our playground where we can live in our picture postcard dream home (with fire insurance), then “we” are the invasive species. When we declared war on fire a hundred years ago and labeled (for the records) fire “evil,” we lost touch with our “purpose” as human beings. As a wildland firefighter ceritified in many areas in wildland fire operations as a “single resource,” it is clear to me that we humans are out of touch with why we are here on this planet. We invade other countries out of selfishness and greed. We invade the forests out of selfishness and greed. We invade other human and animal “spaces” out of selfishness and greed. Like the fuels that have built up in our forests because of prolonged fire suppression, the same insatiable human appetite for more and more, with disregard for the effects, has reached the point of an inevitable catastrophic (economical, social & environmental) collapse.
We are out of touch with who we are as a cuture. We are out of touch with what we are and why we are. We are more concerned with buying more useless material items while staying in debt, rather than taking responsibility for the well being of everything around us. Those who choose to live in a wildland urban interface to satisfy personal motives need to snap out of DENIAL (a contageous dis-ease that is running rampant throughout this culture) and learn to become “Stewards of the Land.”
What is your relationship with the Land? What did the land look like before fire suppression became the policy of a corrupt government owned by greedy corporations? What did the land look like before European settlers “invaded” this country?
Fire was once a natural part of our landscape. Low intensity fire helped maintain balance and order in the forests and kept forests “healthy and biodiverse.” (Many Native Americans understood this principle and, prior to the arrival of European settlers, practiced “prescribed burning” methods that supported the health of themselves AND the health of the forests and animals.) However, that knowledge was lost when the European settlers came to understand “timber” as a valuable commodity and perceived fire as “evil” and actually declared war on it. (Good old Smokey the Bear became the perfect propoganda prop to further their cause.) Unfortunately, without low intensity fire to keep forests healthy and diverse, we now have a catastrohpic problem on our hands. The amount of acummulated “bio mass” needed to be removed from our forests, to help nature recover somewhat, is MASSIVE! Like the Karma that will come to all Americans for, directly or indirectly, invading and destroying other peoples cultures, a similar Karma is now at our doorstep.
You want fire insurance? Look inside yourself. Learn to connect to your true nature and how that supports and nourishes your environment…the land your home is on. Each and everyone of us has a purpose on this planet, unrelated to the fashionable addictions most Americans have to any and everything that keeps them constantly preoccupied with being busy doing absolutely nothing worthwhile.
We each need to realign ourselves with our purpose and mission in life; not to serve ourself (always first), but to serve the greater good of all living creatures. Time is growing short on all fronts. Our forests need to be intelligently and carefully “thinned” (leaving all old growth) with mimimum impact on the sensitive ecosystem. Low intensity fire must follow. Therapy for the forests will be therapy for ourselves. They go hand and hand, limb and limb. (Channel the billions of dollars allocated to an illegal war, by a corrupted administration, towards hiring a few million “poor” people to recover our forests. It’s a “win-win” situation.)
Time to make a stand for something good, anything. Either this makes sense or it doesn’t. The lines are being drawn. Whether you are rich or poor, it does not matter. What does matter is what side you choose to align yourself with?
A fully functional and dedicated “Steward of the Land,” steeped in principles gleaned from Nature (and not the corrupted corporations), is the only true “fire insurance” there is. Our ability to positively Steward the Land is the “fire insurance” policy that the old growth forest has always expected from us, as a coherent human race. The policy expired over the last hundred years. Time to renew it for the sake of the forest and ourselves?
Jeffrey Learned
Engine Boss, Crew Boss, Firing Boss, Prescribe Burn Boss, ICT5
MikeZ
I don’t know what news channel I was watching but I found myself literally shaking my head in disbelief this week at the attitude of some of the SLT homeowners, who were upset that the firefighters weren’t doing enough to save their precious homes.
Deb
I have been trying to find the location of the fires on a yahoo map. I want to know where they are in relation to Ski Run Blvd.
How many miles away?
In which direction?
How traffic to Ski Run Blvd would be affected?
If you know the answers to any of these questions – I would really appreciate a short reply.
Thank you! deb
MikeZ
Deb: “I have been trying to find the location of the fires”
Hi Deb, the RGJ has some decent maps:
http://tinyurl.com/2rz8ro