News
North Tahoe Fire Chief Schwartz speaks at Introduction of Wildfire Safety and Recovery Act
NTFPD Fire Chief Michael Schwartz joined California Senator Ricardo Lara at the California State Capitol on December 20th, to announce the introduction of the Wildfire Safety and Recovery Act. The Wildfire Safety and Recovery Act will protect homeowners and use the power of the market to promote fire safety and resilience….
Tips for Halloween Safety
Halloween is just around the corner, and although having the best costume might be important; it’s more important to be safe! As usual, we want you to have fun, but a night of spooktacular candy seeking can quickly turn haunting if simple appropriate precautions are not made…
Heart blockage
Recently, a friend died from a heart attack and it got me thinking about a recurring theme with these kinds of deaths. For whatever reason, people have an aversion to ambulances. Having served as a Paramedic on both a private service and a fire department ambulance, I can’t imagine why. The nicest people in the world work on ambulances and they won’t force you to go if you don’t want to go with them. In fact, very few ambulances in this country even charge you to come to your home and check you out when you call 911.
Bear safety…
According to California State Parks, “Black bears have a very keen sense of smell and are attracted to any food or refuse they can smell. A California black bear was once tracked as it traveled three miles upwind, in a straight line, to a food source.” If you’ve spent any significant amount of time in the Lake Tahoe Basin, there’s a good possibility that you’ve seen a bear. Maybe you’ve seen one from afar, or maybe you’ve come home to find your house has been “broken into”, and the gas stove is lit. Whichever the case, the following will help you with what to do in the event you run into a bear, or help you decide the safe lengths you should go, to discourage bears from entering your home.
Defensible space…
June is Wildfire Awareness Month! Please join us for free food at our second annual Fire Safe BBQ on June 10th from 11:00 am to 3:00 pm across the street from Station 51 at the Tahoe Nordic Search and Rescue Building, 221 Fairway Drive in Tahoe City. Multiple agencies from around the lake will be in attendance to provide you with information regarding defensible space, evacuations, and more. For a list of events throughout the month of June visit: http://tahoe.livingwithfire.info/wildfire-awareness-month/.
Can we see your address?
Now that spring has finally decided to show up, we are seeing the record setting snow levels and exceptionally high snow-banks slowly melt away. As many of you know, driving around trying to find an address on a home is difficult when there’s a fortress of snow surrounding a home, but the snow isn’t the only thing keeping our firefighters/paramedics from locating your address…
Too much snow can destroy your home.
The combination of massive amounts of snowfall, and unbalanced snow loading on homes has left the North Tahoe Fire Protection District responding to several calls for collapsed roofs…
Winter weather hazards are all around — be alert
Snow! It’s everywhere, and from the looks of things, it’s planning to stick around.
Safety on the Slopes
Did you know that the local fire agencies in the Truckee and North Tahoe area work together to provide a response network of Paramedic Ambulance and Paramedic Engine companies?