SOUTH LAKE TAHOE, Calif. — The next time you are in the Lake Tahoe area and a natural disaster strikes, do you know what to do? A new Lake Tahoe regional evacuation plan is helping provide the knowledge in one place to evacuate safely.
The 185-page proposal operates as a dictionary. It serves as one place to find critical information related to evacuations for the five counties across two states.
“How we conduct evacuations, how we conduct sheltering, what alert warning platforms we use to send out emergency alerts and things like that,” said Lt. Troy Morton with El Dorado County Sheriff’s Office of Emergency Services.
Morton says first responders have been working on the proposal for more than a year and he adds, while it focuses on major events threatening the region, the plan also places a special emphasis on wildland fire threats.
“23 law, fire and emergency management agencies coming together to do this,” Morton said about the evacuation plan.
The Lake Tahoe population can increase dramatically due to the large number of people who visit, and getting them out can be difficult — which was highlighted during 2021’s Caldor Fire.
Morton says this plan was not put in place because of any specific natural disaster, but a big lesson was learned during the Caldor Fire.
“What we learned from that is, and this plan is doing that, closer collaboration with our partner agencies. When you are pushing people, evacuating them to another jurisdiction, it takes very close coordination with other states and other cities and other counties to get them out swiftly,” Morton said.
First responders say the plan is a ‘living document’ and they are accepting public comment over the next 60 days, period ending on November 20, 2024. You can send any questions and comments to the following email address: emergencyinfo@edso.org
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