Prescribed fire operations are set to resume this week in Lake Tahoe, amid optimal weather conditions.
Prescribed burns help maintain the ecosystem in the area, by clearing excessive amounts of brush, trees and shrubs. This helps clear out forests in a controlled way and helps reduce the risk of unwanted wildfires, according to the U.S. Forest Service.
Duane Wallace, the Director of the Chamber of Commerce in South Lake Tahoe told KCBS Radio how nervous he was last year during the Caldor Fire.
"When that fire crusted the Sierra's, I thought I was never going to see my town again," Wallace said.
Fire specialists evaluate the weather heavily to ensure the best conditions for prescribed burns. The U.S. Forest Service looks at the temperature, humidity, wind, moisture of the vegetation and make sure smoke can disperse from the area,
"If we don't clean it out now, if you do it in the spring or summer it is much more dangerous cause all of sudden you get a gust of wind and it can get away from you, which often happens," he said. "A lot of fires are started by prescribed burns but not in the winter."
One factor that may affect the prescribed burns this week is the snow on the ground and in the trees.
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