TRYING TO STAY AHEAD OF THE CURVE

This story was originally published in the May 3, 2025 Issue.

In response to growing public concern following record-breaking fires in Los Angeles, June Lake public officials hosted a community meeting Tuesday evening at the June Lake Community Center to address local emergency preparedness efforts.

“Nothing like a disaster to get folks to pay attention,” Mono County District 3 Supervisor Paul McFarland said as he opened the meeting.

Only about 10 community members attended the session, which focused on fire prevention, emergency protocols, and the persistent challenge of absentee property owners who are largely unengaged in local preparedness efforts.

On that last note, June Lake Fire Protection District Chief Juli Baldwin urged residents to clear snow from around propane tanks and vents, emphasizing the risk of explosion.

“Propane tanks are bombs. Let’s call them what they are,” Baldwin said. She added that none of the second homeowners cleared their tanks this winter, and the district had several close calls on major explosions. 

“Fortunately for us, everybody in June Lake has a really good nose, so they could smell it,” she said.

Representatives Beth Burnham, Firewise Regional Coordinator, and Wendilyn Grasseschi, Mono County Wildfire Mitigation Coordinator, urged residents to clean up green waste and consider fire-resistant home retrofitting.

Firewise is a national program promoting “home hardening” and defensible space. Participating communities are eligible for a 10% discount on fire insurance.

However, the issue of second-home owners resurfaced during the discussion. One attendee voiced frustration over unmaintained neighboring lots—a vacant lot on one side and a second homeowner on the other.

“Is there anything in place that would require our neighbors, which have complete fire traps on either side of our property, to get them to do something to help them eliminate the danger?” he asked.

Baldwin responded that CAL FIRE can enforce defensible space requirements, but enforcement staff time limits the agency’s action. Burnham added that the agency’s single Defensible Space Inspector is currently overwhelmed with requests.

McFarland confirmed that Mono County has no policy requiring property owners to create defensible space.

Baldwin and McFarland suggested finding the landowner’s contact information and contacting them directly. Again, they pushed the attendee to start a FireWise community to peer-pressure their neighbors into clearing their green waste.

“Well, it’s being cleared right now,” the attendee quipped, “they just don’t know it.”

Christopher Mokracek, Mono County Director of Emergency Management, urged residents to prepare a go-bag (for evacuation), a stay-kit (for sheltering in place), and a clear plan for where to seek refuge during an emergency.

He explained that the County has transitioned to Genasys, a mass notification system that can send alerts to all mobile devices in the area, including those belonging to visitors. The County is also working on ensuring communication is available through other means.

“If we know we’re going to evacuate somewhere in June Lake, you’re going to get the notification,” he said. “It doesn’t matter if you’ve signed up or not.”

There are two levels of emergency alerts: an evacuation warning, which means residents should prepare to leave and depart at a moment’s notice, and an evacuation order, which means it’s time to leave immediately.

Mokracek said the Genasys communication system has been adopted by counties across the state, and it was used to alert homeowners during the LA fires. 

However, during the LA fires, some residents did not get the order late, well after some homes there had already caught fire, the New York Times reported.

Mokracek explained this was because the Genasys software the area had equipped was outdated and assured the attendees that Mono County’s software was up-to-date.

Still, technology isn’t the only safeguard in an emergency. Once an evacuation order is issued, Mono County Sheriff Ingrid Braun said law enforcement must physically check each residence in the affected area, explain the situation, and document household plans.

No universal evacuation map exists since the order can change based on the area’s conditions and the fire’s path. 

The County will have emergency shelters available for those who do, but people are not required to leave their homes.

Law enforcement will instruct transient visitors to go home if an emergency occurs, Braun said. 

“If you don’t live here, you don’t need to stay here during an emergency unless the road is closed. Go home; your vacation is over,” Braun said. “If the road is closed, we’ll have to figure something out.”

Residents are not legally required to evacuate, but they are strongly advised to do so.

“In the Round Fire, some people said, ‘No, I’m not going. I’m going to ride it out,” Braun said. “To that, I said, smile for the camera and make sure we can see your teeth because that’s how we’re going to identify you.”

Law enforcement executed this inspection process most recently during the Silver Fire, which started in Bishop and forced the evacuation of residents in the White Mountains. Braun said they evacuated those homes with a conservative time expectation because the neighborhood only had one exit route.

In the case of any evacuation, officials urge the community to look after one another and consider their neighbors who may have a more difficult time leaving their homes.