The Local Lens – Wildfire Doesn’t Respect Property Lines

Written by Tom Millhoff

We longtime locals have watched our wildfire reality change—from distant risk to smoky summers, insurance non-renewals and increasingly frequent hot, dry, windy Red Flag Warning days. Our recent Public Safety Power Outages are a useful reminder: here in Incline Village and Crystal Bay, we are living with fire.  

Choking smoke from the Caldor and Dixie fires sparked my attention. Upper Tyner is the epitome of the wildland-urban interface (WUI), where homes and forest meet. Since then, our neighborhood has been working with the North Lake Tahoe Fire Protection District (NLTFPD) to become Incline’s first Fire Adapted and Firewise USA neighborhood.

And there is plenty of good news.

NLTFPD has earned the highest possible insurance rating, and our fire district is doing extraordinary work to reduce wildfire risk on public lands surrounding and within our neighborhoods. As I write this, NLTFPD Forester Jason Furmaniak’s aptly named “Worm,” a remote-controlled masticating machine, is munching through manzanita below my house, helping create a 132-foot mosaic of healthier forest and defensible space around Incline’s “Halo” neighborhoods above Mt. Rose Highway.

But here’s the catch: the fire district can’t do this alone.

Wind-driven fires such as the Hawk, Bug, Davis and Caldor fires can throw burning embers a mile or more ahead of the flames. Those embers can jump roads, fire lines and fuels-reduction projects and land directly in our yards.

That means wildfire resilience is a team sport.

NLTFPD can reduce fuels in the forest. Public agencies can create fuel breaks. Firefighters can respond when fire comes. But homeowners and residents control the final few feet around our homes—and that ember-resistant zone can determine whether an ember fizzles out or becomes a structure fire.

Here’s the uncomfortable truth: wildfire doesn’t respect property lines.  Our individual decisions affect our neighbors. The greatest ignition threat to your home is on your own property; the largest fuel source threatening it may be the house next door. The forest may bring wildfire to Incline, but we residents can help determine whether it becomes a house-to-house neighborhood fire.  Working together, we can make our communities safer, and our homes more insurable.

Fortunately, you can make meaningful progress without a major landscaping project or a huge check.

Start with one easy step: create an Ember-Resistant Zone immediately around your home. Remove needles, leaves, wood mulch and other combustible material where wind-blown embers are most likely to collect. It’s inexpensive, it’s effective, and we’re in peak fire season, so there’s no better time than this weekend.

Ready for step two? Visit the Living With Fire–Tahoe website for practical guidance on home hardening and defensible space.

Better yet, call NLTFPD and schedule a free Defensible Space Inspection. Fuels Mitigation Specialist Ryan Dominguez and his inspection team understand our local wildfire ignition and spread risks better than anyone. Why wouldn’t we welcome expert advice to protect our homes and neighborhoods?

No single homeowner can make Incline fire-adapted. No fire district can do it for us.

But if each of us takes one or two meaningful steps—and encourages the neighbor next door to do the same—the effect multiplies from home, to street, to neighborhood, to community.

That’s how we learn to live with fire.  That’s how we protect one another.  And that’s how Incline Village & Crystal Bay become a Fire Adapted Community.

About the Author
Tom Millhoff has lived in Upper Tyner since the last millennium.  He and the Incline High School Wildfire Ambassador team support residents seeking to organize their communities to become Fire Adapted and Firewise.