Not to be spared was the forest management practices of the US Forest Service which were characterized as too stringent for those living next to government land. The amount of fuel in the Tahoe Basin has reached critical levels after years of discord among environmentalists and government agencies over how to thin forests and reduce the fire threat. And it has led to predictions of a devastating wildfire because the basin is one of the areas with the most fire starts in the Sierra Nevada. More than 21,000 acres of Tahoe land have been cleared to guard against wildfires, at a cost of $50 million, but an additional 67,000 acres need to be cleared and thinned. In April, the U.S. Forest Service held public hearings and developed a 10-year plan to thin and prescriptively burn 38,000 acres of land for the purpose of reducing the risk of a catastrophic wildfire. A wild land fire like the Angora Fire.

However, the plan had basically no impact or benefit on the homes in the community of Meyers, where most of Sunday's fire damage occurred. According to the plan only about 500 acres within the Angora fire boundary had been treated for fuel reduction. Why? because it was considered low on the priority list for preemptive action. Sgt. Don Atkinson of the El Dorado County Sheriff's Department said heavy growth in the area, especially Manzanita plants, contributed to the rapid hot spread of the Angora fire. He said fire officials request that underbrush be cleared for at least 30 feet of defensible space from homes and buildings. But residents at that meeting pointed their fingers straight at the TRPA with several in attendance stating that it is the regional planning agency regulations that the problem when it came to clearing the land.

According to the TRPA website, trpa.org, the threat of a catastrophic wildfire at Lake Tahoe is a concern to the TRPA and the entire community. The website states that It's important for property owners to take "defensible space" measures to protect their homes in the unfortunate event of a wildfire and advises residents to remove all vegetation that may be touching a home. Residents are instructed to look for tree branches and bushes that have grown up next to their house and Break up dense vegetation around the home. Residents are advised to leave the "duff" layer of pine needles in your yard - do not rake them all up. The "duff" layer is the dark area at the ground level where the pine needles are decomposing. The final piece of advice is to keep an area of approximately 30 feet surrounding your home clean and free of debris or dead vegetation. Everything in this area should be healthy and green. This is different than mandated 100 foot of clearance around homes that California State law now requires for homes in the State Responsibility areas. Additionally, in recent years the TRPA has tried to improve the ease of creating defensible space on private property by working with local fire departments to issue tree cutting permits on our behalf. All trees 6 inches in diameter at chest height can only be removed with a permit. Currently the TRPA has an agreement to do this with the fire protection district in Incline Village, Douglas County and is looking to expand this program to other fire departments soon. Currently the fire is 44 percent contained at 3100 acres.