USFS: Cigarette cause of Tahoe grass fire
A discarded cigarette is being blamed on the Aug. 26 fire near West Way on the South Shore.
“We’d like to remind everyone that, while fall is approaching, the Lake Tahoe Basin remains in high fire danger, and the Forest Service has issued fire restrictions for the lands we manage. In particular, smoking is prohibited in most places on the national forest,” U.S. Forest Service spokeswoman Cheva Heck said.
The fire burned about one-quarter acre. But the dry, grassy area that was charred backs to houses.
The Gondola Fire of July 2002 proves how one cigarette can cause a major forest fire.
— Lake Tahoe News staff report
rest my case. smokers quit being selfish idiots..
The Gapes Strike Again
Dear Smokers,
Our world is not your ash tray.
Homeowners on West Way, located just within the City Limits of South Lake Tahoe, are exempt from the Fire Prevention Assessment, so I guess they can afford to be careless. And yet, we in the unincorporated area of the county, just adjacent to the City, must pay $115 per year for a fire that could easily have spread to the County area.
I guess the fools in the legislature haven’t realized that natural disasters know no boundaries. I guess they also don’t understand the concept of mutual aid. Since I’m going to be paying more, I want my Lake Valley Firefighters to remain in the County at all times — just in case a fire breaks out here. (Of course, I’m being facetious!)
And of course, City residents never use the trails and other natural amenities, nor do our many visitors. The Angora fire wasn’t started by a County house fire.
I plan to write to members of the legislature who voted in favor of this ridiculous piece of legislation.
I have no problem paying a little extra to ensure we have good fire suppression in place, but I expect that burden to be shared equally. Everyone has a stake in ensuring our rural areas remain pristine and fire safe!
“I have no problem paying a little extra to ensure we have good fire suppression in place, but I expect that burden to be shared equally. Everyone has a stake in ensuring our rural areas remain pristine and fire safe!”
This “fee” has NOTHING to do with ensuring good fire suppression. The amount of money going to Calfire from this illegal tax is being taken directly OUT of the fund and being put into the state’s general fund. It is a shell game the governor is pulling on the property owners.
It is an illegal tax — fees are imposed on users — everyone uses our forests!
I will pay the invoice I received under protest and expect to receive a refund very soon, as Howard Jarvis, et al will surely fight this one — and win.
In the meantime, I have just send a nasty-gram to the Governor!
Since it is unlikely that the smoker whose negligence started this fire will ever be found or held responsible, all the costs for this and other fires caused by smoker negligence should be paid for by the tobacco industry, with the right to pass the cost on to the idiots who believe the world is their ashtray.
To paraphrase the folks that pray to the NRA, “Burning cigarettes don’t start fires, IDIOT smokers start fires!”
I agree with passion4tahoe and her assessment of this new illegal tire tax imposed on homeowners in forested unincorporated areas in California.
We homeowners do everything we can to protect our forests, wildlife, and homes. Just a block away from us is a US Forest area that allows target shooting, bikers, recreational vehicles (with catalitic converters, known to spark fires. Also there are illegal campfires, and that’s because we only have 2 US Forest Service staff to check on and cover the entire Lake Tahoe area. This summer there were over 20 forest fires in Utah that were started with target shooting. In some instances,the bullets riccoshayed off rocks and sparked fires.
All of us in California need to share in paying for dissasters that occur in our state including earthquakes, forest fires, landslides, and others by having an increase of a percentage of one cent added to our sales tax. That would be the fair to all.
waterdriplet
people who smoke are idiots!!!!