Tuesday's 1,200-acre East Lake fire in northern Washoe Valley should be a reminder that fire season is here with a vengeance.
On Thursday, members of Douglas County's many Fire Safe Council chapters gathered in Minden for the proclamation of May 17-24 as Wildland Fire Awareness Week.
A chapter can be found in virtually every community in the county that borders on the wilderness. Chapter members are reducing wildland fire fuels in Holbrook, Fish Springs, Genoa, the Foothills and more than a dozen locations in the Tahoe basin.
It didn't take footage of flames on television to convince these folks to do something. They got to see the damage firsthand.
The past winter doesn't look like it will have been much wetter that its predecessor.
March was a bust with 17 percent average moisture and we're betting April will turn out to be just as dry, leaving the Sierra with less than 60 percent of its moisture.
The East Lake fire was ignited by a power line blown down in Tuesday's 70 mph winds. A fire like that can't be prevented, but people can limit the amount of damage to their homes by leaving a defensible space around their property.
Douglas County has one of the highest concentration of Fire Safe Council chapters in the state with 21. Let's hope that's a lucky number this year, and we can all shout "Blackjack" as winners when the season is over.
