The Lake Tahoe Basin will host Wildfire Awareness Week July 3-11. The event is to encourage residents to Be Ember Prepared by protecting their home and community from the embers that cause home fire during wildfires.

California and Nevada already host a Wildfire Awareness Week in early May, but participation has been low in the Tahoe basin partly because many second home owners are not around.

The goal of the week in July is to motivate and empower residents and visitors to take action now to protect homes and communities from embers that can attack during a wildfire. Events and activities are planned throughout the Lake Tahoe basin to remind people of the risks inherent to living in a fire prone environment and the importance of taking measures now to reduce the threat and increase the protection of their homes and communities.

Events will include 4th of July pancake breakfasts by local fire departments, fire station open houses, fuels treatment project tours, fire wise landscaping classes, Fire Safe chapter barbecues, and presentations to homeowner association meetings. The capstone event will be a Wildfire Summit for residents on July 9 from 9am to 5pm at Harveys in Stateline.

Events are listed at www.livingwithfire.info/tahoe.

Homeowners can assess their home’s defensibility by using the “Living with Fire Guide for the Homeowner” and the Ember Awareness Checklist in the “Be Ember Aware! Will your home survive when the embers arrive?” publications found at the www.livingwithfire.info/tahoe website. Further information is also available contacting the Nevada Fire Safe Council at www.NVFSC.org for information about creating a fire safe community.