Dan Kruger (Tahoe Douglas Fire Protection District Board At-large, Nevada, candidate 2024)

Dan Kruger

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Nonpartisan

Candidate, Tahoe Douglas Fire Protection District Board At-large

Elections and appointments

Last election

November 5, 2024

Personal

Profession

Retired

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Dan Kruger ran for election to the Tahoe Douglas Fire Protection District Board At-large in Nevada. Kruger was on the ballot in the general election on November 5, 2024.^[source]

Kruger completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2024. Click here to read the survey answers.

Biography

Dan Kruger provided the following biographical information via Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey on September 19, 2024:

• Birth date: December 11, 1964
• High school: Feather River Prep
• Bachelor's: Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo, 1991
• Profession: Retired
• Incumbent officeholder: No

Elections

General election

General election for Tahoe Douglas Fire Protection District Board At-large (3 seats)

John Breaux, Rober F. Desipio Jr., Dan Kruger, and Benjamin Ward ran in the general election for Tahoe Douglas Fire Protection District Board At-large on November 5, 2024.

		Candidate
	Submit photo	John Breaux (Nonpartisan)
	Submit photo	Rober F. Desipio Jr. (Nonpartisan)
	Submit photo	Dan Kruger (Nonpartisan)
	Submit photo	Benjamin Ward (Nonpartisan)

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	Incumbency information for this election was not available.
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Endorsements

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Campaign themes

Ballotpedia survey responses

See also: Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection

Dan Kruger completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2024. The survey questions appear in bold and are followed by Kruger's responses. Candidates are asked three required questions for this survey, but they may answer additional optional questions as well.

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Who are you? Tell us about yourself.

I moved to Tahoe in 1985 for what I thought would be just one season working at a ski resort. That decision turned into a career at Heavenly Mountain Resort and raising a family here in Tahoe. In 2008, I accepted the role of Chief Operating Officer for a privately-owned forestry company near Grass Valley, California.

While forestry was the company’s primary focus, we also provided firefighting equipment and personnel to the US Forest Service and CalFire, as well as conducting prescribed burns and forest fuel reduction projects. We also supported the local volunteer fire department and EMTs with staff and equipment. During this time, I developed a passion for effective forest management, recognizing the critical connection between wildfire, responsible forest management, and maintaining overall forest health. When the company liquidated in 2020, I retired, and we moved back to Tahoe.

I became involved with the Tahoe Douglas Fire Protection District through their public outreach efforts about their 5-year strategic plan. I saw many parallels between the fire department and the forestry work that I had experience with.

I’m running for the Board of Trustees to put that firsthand experience to work for our community's benefit.

Please list below 3 key messages of your campaign. What are the main points you want voters to remember about your goals for your time in office?

• Fire Prevention: We have several great defensible space programs in place. Our fire prevention issues come largely from the space which we don't have direct control of: Public Lands. Unfortunately the slow pace of our public agencies translates into increased fuel loading and higher risk for our community.

  Local homeowners' insurance rates and coverage are beginning to reflect this problem. This situation has already materialized in California, where over 400,000 homeowners have been denied insurance.

  We need to keep our fire risk as low as possible so we don't run into the same situation. We need to actively work with the public agencies to reduce fuel loading, and explore how forming FireWise Communities can help us with our insurers.
• Communication: Fire is an integral part of the ecosystem that we live in, so fire is not an "if", it's a "when". When fire breaks out, it's critical that we have immediate, accurate, simple, and consistent communication, so we can make good decisions. There are valuable lessons from the Angora Fire, the Gondola Fire, and the Caldor Fire that we can learn from. We need a robust communication system that we can depend on in time of emergency, so everyone can quickly find out what the situation is, and which steps to take.
• Fiscal Responsibility: Tahoe Douglas Fire has more factors to deal with than most fire departments: beyond standard responses, TDFPD has two wildland fire response teams, a lake response team, special events coverage, bomb squad, plus a new fire science program being taught at Whittell High School. The department's current financial situation is enviable compared to similar agencies. Items that will impact the department in the future include radio infrastructure, facilities, integration with the new Barton Hospital, and increased initial attack capability. I believe that we can meet these challenges while retaining our current tax structure by running a balanced budget, continuing cost controls, and long-term planning.

What areas of public policy are you personally passionate about?

Public policy must be logical, clear, and applied consistently to everyone. My background in forestry gives me a particular interest in natural resources policy. I've witnessed well-intentioned policies enforced in ways that not only fail to achieve their objectives but create unintended consequences, hindering those goals or conflicting with other important priorities. When adopting any policy, it is crucial to thoroughly vet proposed rules to anticipate and avoid these kinds of issues. One of the challenges we face is prioritizing fire protection activities within the environmental review framework so we can make our communities safe in a reasonable amount of time.

What characteristics or principles are most important for an elected official?

Honesty, transparency, accessibility, the ability to listen to and understand opposing viewpoints, problem-solving skills, leading by example, building cohesive teams, and effectively working with those teams.

What was your very first job? How long did you have it?

My mom ran a preschool, and when I was in middle school, she gave me my first job as "floor-sweeper". I was around 12 at the time, and went there after school every day. I kept the job until I went to high school, where I moved up to "cafeteria dishwasher"!

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