Emergency declarations for five counties ringing Lake Tahoe were signed late Tuesday by California and Nevada governors to help speed fire-protection efforts in the scenic mountain resort area hit by a catastrophic blaze last summer. The declarations were among more than 70 recommendations by a special panel formed by California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger and Nevada Governor Jim Gibbons after the Angora Fire destroyed 254 homes and caused $140 million in property damage in South Lake Tahoe. "We will not rest until this natural crown jewel is as safe as it is beautiful," Schwarzenegger said prior to the signings that affect California's El Dorado and Placer counties and Nevada's Carson City, Douglas and Washoe counties. "Many of these recommendations can be implemented swiftly, and I hope that everyone with the power to make these changes does so quickly," Gibbons said, referring to the California-Nevada Basin Fire Commission's report. U.S. Senator Dianne Feinstein, who joined the governors, commission members and firefighters at the conference, said that saving Lake Tahoe "is going to be a continuing work in progress. One thing is clear, it's not going to be done in 10 years, it will be ongoing." The fire commission wants the state and federal governments to free up money quickly, primarily to cut thick stands of trees. Many of its recommendations are intended to resolve the bureaucratic infighting among overlapping agencies that has hampered fire-prevention efforts for years. The commission said thinning overgrown forests around communities should be completed within five years and within a decade throughout the entire Tahoe basin.