Mosaic
Single-story • Up to 3 beds & 3 baths Priced from high $600s
at Heritage El Dorado Hills
Clubhouse, pool, tennis & more 4975 Del Mar Drive, El Dorado Hills, CA 95762 916-304-9711 | Lennar.com/Sacramento
New Homes for Active Adults 55+
172
Pursuant to the Fair Housing Act, this housing is intended for occupancy by at least one person 55 years of age or older per home. Plans to build out this neighborhood as proposed are subject to change without notice. Features, amenities, floor plans, elevations, and designs vary and are subject to changes or substitution without notice. Items shown may contain options that are not standard on all models or not included in the purchase price. Availability may vary. Prices do not include closing costs and other fees to be paid by buyer (including a builder fee as described in the purchase agreement) and are subject to change without notice. This is not an offer in states where prior registration is required. Void where prohibited by law. Copyright © 2022 Lennar Corporation. Lennar and the Lennar logo are U.S. registered service marks or service marks of Lennar Corporation and/or its subsidiaries. Lennar Sales Corp., CA DRE Broker #01252753 (Responsible Broker: Joanna Duke). BMR Construction, Inc., CA CSLB #830955. CalAtlantic Group, Inc., CA CSLB #1037780. Lennar Homes of California, Inc., CA CSLB #728102. Date 09/22
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Volume 172 • Issue 98 | $1.00
mtdemocrat.com
Friday, August 25, 2023
Pollock Pines woman victim of Maui fire Eric Jaramishian Staff writer A Pollock Pines woman has been confirmed a victim of the deadly Maui wildfires. The death of Theresa Cook, 72, was announced by Maui County on Tuesday, making Cook the first tourist identified as a victim of the blaze. Melissa Cook, her daughter, posted on social media Aug. 17 that Theresa was staying at a Best Western Pioneer Inn in Lahaina before going missing, eventually updating the post to confirm her body had been found and identified. News media reported Cook was last seen the weekend of Aug. 11 leaving the Best Western by foot, traveling down Wharf Street and walking Mountain Democrat photo by Odin Rasco
n See maui fire, page A3
Tabatha Walker, left, and R.W. MacNeil have helped lead the way for Grizzly Flat residents looking to file claims against the U.S. Forest Service for what they lost to the Caldor Fire. They both hope the claims may lead to a better understanding of how their town was left to burn in 2021.
2 years after Caldor Grizzly Flat residents look for answers
Odin Rasco Staff writer Courtesy photo
El Dorado County Fire Protection District’s Station 17 remodel is complete and the facility’s doors will open to the public for an open house event Aug. 26.
Upgrades support firefighter safety at Station 17 n Open house planned Saturday Eric Jaramishian Staff writer The El Dorado County Fire Protection District invites the public to an open house for a remodeled Station 17 in Pollock Pines Aug. 26. The improved digs include a reconfiguration of the station’s dorms, office spaces, storage and gym,
and upgrades to the kitchen, bathrooms and sewer. The front lobby has also been expanded and a new handicap parking area has been added for accessibility. The apparatus bay floors have been re-sloped and floor drains with a water and oil separator have
“I
dreamed of living in the mountains for 20 years. It took me quite some time to get up here. The day I walked onto this property, it felt like home — I had never felt like that until I was here. This community took me under their wing and helped me survive the first two winters up here,” Tabatha Walker recalled. She lived in her Grizzly Flat home for four years and then it was gone overnight — reduced to cinders like more than 400 other homes in the area by the 2021 Caldor Fire. Though “severely underinsured,” Walker was able to
pull the money together from a year of work to afford a rebuild and moved into her new home a month ago. Many other “Grizzlies,” such as longtime resident R.W. MacNeil, have been less fortunate — left with empty properties with little to no hope of rebuilding the homes they lost. Walker and MacNeil — who goes by Mac — joined with Jon Jochem, another Grizzly Flat resident, to lead a local effort to file a series of tort claims against the U.S. Forest Service. The claims, filed under the Federal Tort Claims Act, enumerate individuals’ losses from property damage and personal injury caused by the wildfire,
alleging that insufficient forest management by the USFS was a significant contributor to the destruction of 221,835 acres of land and more than 1,000 buildings. Information included in the basis for the Standard Form 95 claims lines out how the Grizzly Flat Fire Safe Council completed 1,559 acres of fuel treatment between 2006-2021, while the Forest Service treated less than 1,000 acres in the same time — significantly less than the 7,000 acres of National Forest System land identified as needing treatment by the Trestle Forest Health Project. The trio has worked hard to n See Grizzlies, page A7
Caldor Fire suspects pretrial rescheduled Odin Rasco Staff writer The two men accused of igniting the Caldor Fire have had their pretrial date rescheduled to Oct. 6, according to court documents.
The pretrial for David Scott Smith of Somerset and his son Travis Shane Smith, a Folsom resident, is anticipated to last two days and will take place in El Dorado County Superior Court Department 1. The preliminary hearing is intended to be a review of the
charges and available evidence, and the findings will determine if the case heads to trial. The preliminary hearing was originally scheduled to begin Aug. 22, but the date was rescheduled by n See smiths, page A2
n See station 17, page A7
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