TAHOE CITY, Calif. " Placer County authorities are cracking down on Lake Tahoe homeowners who don't clear enough brush and trees from around their homes.
They began inspections Thursday in Talmont Estates, a west-shore neighborhood near Tahoe City that was built on steep wooded hillsides ripe for wildfires.
Inspectors are enforcing a county ordinance adopted last fall after a devastating South Lake Tahoe wildfire.
Fire officials tell property owners what they need to do to deter wildfires, and give them a month to do it.
If homeowners don't clear their land, the county can do it and send them the bill. The county can also put a lien on the property.
County spokesman Robert Miller says inspectors are starting with unimproved lots and will then move on to those with homes. Enforcement could expand to other wooded areas in the Sierra Nevada.