SUBMITTED NEWS RELEASE
SOUTH LAKE TAHOE, Calif. — The fire chief for the U.S. Forest Service Lake Tahoe Basin Management Unit will suspend residential burning, also known as “dooryard” burning, effective Sunday, Aug. 1, 2010, through the remainder of fire season. The prohibition applies to debris burning on private, state and federal lands of El Dorado and Placer counties in the Lake Tahoe Basin. Residential debris burning is already banned within the City of South Lake Tahoe, and in both the Tahoe Douglas and North Lake Tahoe Fire Protection districts in Nevada.
Lake Tahoe weather conditions have generally been warm and dry, leading fire protection officials to move to end 
residential debris burning due to increased risks. The ban is for residential burns only and does not prevent federal, state and local fire managers from conducting prescribed fire operations necessary for fuels reduction on public lands. Prescribed fire work is conducted by fully equipped professional wildland firefighting crews under favorable weather conditions.
The ban also does not prohibit small, contained campfires on private land outside the City of South Lake Tahoe, built by the property owner or with the written permission of the property owner. Remember never to leave campfires unattended and always extinguish them properly — drown, stir and feel.
The residential burn ban will remain in effect until temperatures, winds and humidity allow for safer conditions.
