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Calm chokes Tahoe blaze Lack of winds helps crews regain initiative By John Simerman, MEDIANEWS STAFF Article Last Updated: 06/28/2007 03:35:33 AM PDT SOUTH LAKE TAHOE — The famously crisp blue skies above this mountain lake retreat made a strong if tentative return Wednesday as still air confounded dire wind warnings and helped fire crews cinch a grip on the 3,100-acre Angora fire. The blaze, which a day earlier had jumped containment lines, raged up against homes and forced frantic evacuations from several neighborhoods, never threatened those lines Wednesday. Forecasts had predicted northeast winds above 30 mph, drawing anxious words from...

Resurgent Tahoe fire ignites chaos, panicBy John Simerman, MEDIANEWS STAFF Article Last Updated: 06/27/2007 04:27:24 AM PDTSOUTH LAKE TAHOE — Firefighters battling the northernmost edge of the Angora fire ravaging the South Lake Tahoe area lost control of a back burn Tuesday afternoon, which jumped over Highway 89 and forced evacuations of several neighborhoods. The Tahoe Basin's worst fire in a century bolted northeast into a subdivision about sixmiles southwest of the Stateline casinos, within a mile of the lake itself, sparking evacuations of a popular village and an enclave of pricey, waterfront homes. The marching flames ignited a scene of...