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of lives, property and valuable natural resources as a result of catastrophic wildfire. We are joining nine other established Fire Safe Chapters located in the Tahoe/Douglas Fire Protection District from Glenbrook through Upper Kingsbury who spent nearly one million dollars on fuels reduction work in the past five years. Right now our Chapter is very small: Our primary Chapter Leaders are Mike Gayer and Bob Mancinelli of Zephyr Heights, Carl Paulson of Zephyr Knolls and Gary Richert of Zephyr Cove.
According to the Community Wildfire Protection Plan, we live in an area classified as a HIGH HAZARD fire area. Our area was rated this way due to inadequate defensible space, close residence spacing, a high number of combustible roofs, unenclosed architectural features, some inadequate address signage, and fire behavior factors such as steep slopes. However, you, as a homeowner, can do much to improve your property’s survivability through defensible space and education. And, the good news is that the state and federal government will help us. I know you’ve heard that before, but it’s true! There is funding available through the NVFSC to help us reduce the fire danger in our community.
The purpose of this letter is two-fold. First, we would like to invite you to a Fire Safe Education Event at Kahle Community Center on Tuesday, May 22nd between 6:30 and 8:30 p.m. At the event there will be representatives from the following organizations:
- Nevada Tahoe Conservation District: How Defensible Space Works With Best Management Practices
- Tahoe/Douglas Fire Protection District: Defensible Space Evaluation
- U.S. Forest Service: Urban Lot and the Round Hill Fuel Reduction Program
- UNR Cooperative Extension: Living With Fire; Landscaping for Defensible Space
- Local Fire Safe Chapters: How the Process Will Work in Your Neighborhood
Second, we would like you to join the Zephyr Heights Fire Safe Chapter. At this point that simply means filling out an application and submitting a $10 annual membership fee. However, at some point it will involve a willingness on your part to improve defensible space around your property. We can talk more about the specifics at the May 22nd meeting.
If you are interested in joining the Zephyr Heights Fire Safe Chapter or would just like to be kept informed as to what’s going on, we would appreciate it if you would send your e-mail address to rmancinelli@charter.net; that will allow us to economically communicate with you. We promise we will not send any junk e-mail! Please indicate if you live in Zephyr Heights, Zephyr Knolls or Zephyr Cove.
Thank you, and we hope to see you on May 22.
Mike Gayer, Bob Mancinelli, Carl Paulson and Gary Richert
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