PRESS RELEASE
Multiple fire districts in the Lake Tahoe Area have seen record call volume in January and February. Calls ranged from the following: structure fires, weakened or collapsed buildings, severe weather or natural disaster, avalanches, water evacuations, animal rescues, vehicle accidents, downed power lines, fatality incidents, and numerous gas leaks.
North Tahoe Fire Protection District (NTFPD), Meeks Bay Fire Protection District (MBFPD), Squaw Valley Fire Protection District, Northstar Fire Protection District, North Lake Fire Protection District, and Truckee Fire Protection District have all seen unusually high numbers for the past month.
For the last several years, NTFPD with MBFPD have responded to around 200 calls for the month of January. Astonishingly, this year the Districts saw a record 379 calls over the course of the month.
Battalion Chief Greg Smith, who has been with NTFPD for nearly 25 years, says throughout his career he doesn’t recall running 40 calls in 24 hours, as he’s seen this winter.
A significant amount of the call volume can be correlated with the massive amount of downed power lines the community experienced. Remember never approach a downed power line. Call 911 and the fire district will come out and safely monitor the situation until a utility company arrives.
Squaw Valley Fire Chief Pete Bansen states “Squaw Valley Fire had 160 calls over the course of the month. This is very high for a single month. The increment is mostly due to the numerous wires down calls and other incidents resulting from the extraordinary weather we’ve had.”
Public Information Officer, Tia Rancourt from North Lake Tahoe Fire Protection District (NLTFPD) states that “NLTFPD ran 306 calls in January 2017; almost double the call volume experienced January 2016. It is safe to say that this January was the busiest January in the history of our Fire District.” The story is no different for Truckee Fire Protection District. Truckee Fire Captain Ryan Ochoa states “The District had a significantly higher call volume than usual with 1,158 calls for the month of January.”
