Posted on 06/25/2007 4:48:06 AM PDT by I'll be your Huckleberry
Jun 25, 2007 7:21 am US/Eastern
Calif. Wildfire Burns 2,000 Acres, 165 Homes
(AP) MEYERS, Calif. A wind-driven wildfire destroyed at least 165 homes and other structures and scorched 2,000 acres acres just southwest of Lake Tahoe, a spokesman for the El Dorado County Sheriff's Department said Sunday.
Sheriff's Lt. Kevin House said the fire is less than 5 percent contained and has more than 500 homes in its path, but no injuries or deaths have been reported. The cause of the fire is still unknown.
"This thing is raging out of control, and there's no estimate as to when that may change," House said.
The El Dorado County Board of Supervisors has issued a declaration of emergency, House said.
Kit Bailey, the agency's fire chief for Lake Tahoe, said high winds hampered the battle against the fast-moving about five miles south of the lake. The Angora Lakes Resort and hundreds of homes in Meyers were evacuated, authorities said.
"I can't stay on the phone. We just got a notice to evacuate," Gloria Hildinger of the Angora Lakes Resort said. "The smoke is getting pretty thick. It's probably two miles away, and we're hoping it won't reach here."
"They're definitely having problems with the winds up there," said Linda Curran of the Camino Interagency Dispatch Center. "The fire has a rapid rate of spread because of the winds."
At least five air tankers and two helicopters were assisting more than 400 firefighters on the ground. The fire, believed to be caused by human activity, was reported Sunday afternoon on Forest Service land. Its huge smoke plume could be seen for miles. State and federal fire officials had warned of a potentially active wildfire season in the Sierra Nevada following an unusually dry winter. The annual May 1 snow survey found the Tahoe-area snowpack at just 29 percent of normal levels, the lowest since 1988.
Earlier this month, a fire forced residents to flee the eastern Sierra community of Coleville, and there have been several other troublesome fires in the region since mid-May.
The El Dorado County Board of Supervisors has issued a declaration of emergency.
I live about 80 miles ENE -as the crow flies- of fire location. The smoke here yesterday was really dense, first high up, then lower. The plume over my place went at least 35 miles further to Fallon, Nv.
This will be a tough fire to put out. Winds are quiet now, but will build again this AM into PM.
Wind is down here in Carson City, waiting to see what the dawn brings.
No news for a few hours, other than the new acreage report.
2000 acres in South Lake Tahoe is a disaster.
No news on the high school, heard they fought to save the post office.
I live in Carson City. Drove up to the lake yesterday to get lottery tickets and saw it first hand.
It is a bad one.
I was living in South Lake Tahoe in 1990-1992, beautiful can hardly describe it though its problematic living on the CA side of the lake with all the building restrictions.
I can just imagine what Hiway 50 to Sacramento is like, it will probably get shut down. More forest on the wetter CA side of the Sierras, drier on the Nevada side. Maybe some cloud seeding would work, they do it in the winter to create more snow.
50 was shut down yesterday, 88 and 89 are shut down.
Reporting 220 homes burnt on morning news.
HIRE THE ANTINOV WATER BOMBER ! ! !
Unfortunately, fire fighting is an industry which provides lots of cash for privileged minorities and the even more privileged AgencyPersons.
Use of a portable rain storm (look up the capacity of the Antinov 124 & 225 aircraft) would solve the problem - and we all know that agencies want to grow the problem.
Add in the sad fact that urban, bleu state (pun intended), Democrap, voters want to protect the environment with socialism impaired laws instead of historically proven land management practices - and you have the present debacle.
It can get worse, as it did once before. Remember when the nice fire fighter agency had a nice senior AgencyPerson who allowed four of his own people to be burned alive rather than authorize a helicopter water drop to save the trapped people!
Ohhhh! That helicopter water bucket might have ca!ght an “endangered bull trout”! Better to let those four ‘mere humans’ burn alive than even risk killing one Bull Trout!
Welcome to the warped world of America under the Great UnNatural Acts - Wilderness Act, Endangered Species Act, Clean Water Act, Clean Air Act, ad nauseam.
PS The Antinov was offered at cost - the nice AgencyPersons refused.
PPS Hopefully, some underemployed lawyer will be able to sue the bachelor’s children who made that decision.
Dawn has broken here in Carson City, the smoke is very heavy, almost no wind.
They are reporting 1000 evacuated, 500 more homes in danger, air fight to start at 0700.
Showing live pics of new homes burning. The winds will be back very strong on Wednesday, need to get this one beat down.
One would think the eco-wackjobs would have figured this out by now and let the locals engage in fire prevention measures.
Then again, they are eco-wacks...
They should treat the area just like floodplains, if it burns over and over and there are no prevention activities occurring do not insure and do not allow construction.
Sorry to hear of the bad fire. I fear we will have a bad fire season here on the West Coast.
Polly
5% containment
Heavy smoke may hinder morning air assault.
Human caused
Gee I bet the output of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases from this single fire will raise global temperatures by a thousandth of a degree. To offset this catastrophe will the State of California buy a lot of carbon offsets or just ban all automobile traffic in Los Angeles for a month or two?
The fires completely negate all of the feel good efforts of emissions control. This nutty wilderness sentimentality needs to give way to stewardship practices.
Firefighters fight attempt to contain the blaze near South Lake Tahoe.
Sacramento Bee/Autumn Cruz
A wind whipped fire continues to rage out of control early Monday threatening more homes in what has been described as the biggest disaster to happen to the Lake Tahoe region.
As of 6:30 a.m., there were 2,500 acres scorched, more than 220 homes destroyed and more than 1,000 families evacuated, El Dorado County Sheriff’s Lt. Kevin House said.
At daybreak, a huge blanket of smoke reaching thousands of feet into the air covered most of Lake Tahoe. A thick layer of ash covered parked cars.
At a press briefing, House described the Angora fire as the “the biggest disaster that has happed to his community.”
“It is still very much out of control. It is 5 to 10 percent contained at best,” House said.
South Lake Tahoe Police Lt. Martin Hale said local officials have worked hard to clear timber and underbrush in the area over the past 10 years, but apparently that wasn’t enough.
The rugged terrain, extremely dry conditions and high winds came together to form a destructive combination, Hale said.
“We never have had a loss of property of this magnitude,” Hale said.
Firefighting crews who have been battling the blaze for more since 2 p.m. Sunday will be getting some relief with new crews of 400 to 500 firefighters this morning, Hale said.
Firefighters are concerned about shifting winds, particularly in an easterly direction where residential communities are in danger, House said.
Daniel Berlant, a spokesman for the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, said winds are expected to die down, making firefighting efforts easier.
Firefighters will be working in an area bordered by Highway 89 to the north, Fallen Leaf Lake Road to the west, Echo Peak to the south and Lake Tahoe Boulevard to the east.
“The good news is that nobody has died or has been injured,” Berlant said.
Highway 50 remains closed from Sly Park Road in Placerville to South Lake Tahoe. An alternate route is east Highway 80 to south Highway 267 in the Truckee area to North Shore in Lake Tahoe, according to the California Highway Patrol.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.