One of the things I love most about living in Lake Tahoe is how closely our homes are connected to the natural environment. We live among towering pines, open space, mountains, and trails. That setting is a huge part of why people choose to live here.

It also means wildfire preparedness is part of owning a home in the mountains.

With fires currently burning across the West, our office recently published a helpful wildfire preparedness guide for North Lake Tahoe and Northern Nevada. It brings together information on defensible space, evacuation planning, preparing pets, and where to turn for reliable emergency information.

[Read the full Inside Incline wildfire preparedness guide. [LINK]

One resource from the guide is worth taking a few minutes to review now: the Living With Fire Wildfire Evacuation Checklist.

The checklist walks through the things that can be surprisingly difficult to figure out when an emergency is already underway: Where will you go? What will you take? Where are your important documents and medications? How will you evacuate your pets? What can you safely do to prepare your home before leaving?

Download the Living With Fire Wildfire Evacuation Checklist. [LINK]

Print a copy and keep it somewhere accessible. If your Tahoe property is a second home, keep one there as well and make sure family members and guests know your plan.

For me, this is simply part of mountain homeownership. We prepare our homes for winter, maintain defensible space, understand how snow and weather affect our properties, and know where the water shutoff is. Having a wildfire evacuation plan belongs on that same list.

Being prepared doesn't mean living in fear of wildfire. It means making a few important decisions now, when you have the time and space to make them.

Hopefully, you'll never need your evacuation plan. But if you do, you'll be glad you made it before you needed it.