Maintaining defensible space in Tahoe just got a lot easier with the introduction of Fire Aside. This new software tool is now available to every local fire agency in the Tahoe Basin thanks to support from the Tahoe Fund and Parasol Tahoe Community Foundation.

Fire Aside makes defensible space and home hardening evaluations significantly faster to carry out, and risk mitigation recommendations easier for residents to implement. The software makes it easier for fire agencies and residents to conduct inspections by replacing manual forms and checklists with an interactive digital platform.

Through the Defensible Space Evaluation software, residents receive clear, actionable information about their property, including photos of vulnerable items and associated risk levels to help prioritize costs.

Through the Defensible Space Evaluation software, residents receive clear, actionable information about their property, including photos of vulnerable items and associated risk levels to help prioritize costs.

The basinwide expansion of the Fire Aside software follows a successful pilot in 2023 with the North Lake Tahoe Fire Protection District funded by Parasol Tahoe Community foundation, who expanded their funding to the rest of Nevada in 2024. A grant from the Tahoe Fund’s Smartest Forest Fund helped expand the software to the entire California side of Lake Tahoe.

To learn more about this innovative new program and how to best prepare your home for wildfire. More Information at https://www.tahoefund.org/news/first-of-its-kind-defensible-space-software-brings-significant-improvements-to-the-entire-tahoe-basin/