Thursday, June 28th, 2007: As most of you know by now, I take a week long summer vacation every year to Lake Tahoe, generally in late June through the end of July. I have family in the area, and we spend quite a bit of time playing in or near the Lake, as well as hiking into the backcountry on the west side (up into Desolation Wilderness).
While generally entertaining (but unplanned by typical vacation standards) this year it got a little more “interesting” due to a forest fire. Yes, Uncle Tom, I was in the same town as another disaster, just so we’d have something to email back-and-forth about…
🙂 I didn’t take many photos this year, but the here’s the shots I did take.
There’s more information about the Angora fire below the picture gallery…
The Angora fire broke on Sunday, 6/24 around 2:15pm, and blew up very, very quickly. It burned about 7 miles south-west of where I’m staying. Here’s a “Google Map” that “news10.net” put together. The fire burned from the south-east valley below Angora Ridge, and burned to the top of the ridge, just above Fallen Leaf Lake. I’m safely tucked into the Marriott Timber Lodge, next to Stateline (near the upper right corner of this map)
The fire was pretty well knocked down by Monday night, but then the wind came up on Tuesday. A spot fire flared up, jumped a fire line (and possibly Highway 89), heading towards the Tahoe Keys. They didn’t lose any additional houses on Tuesday, and to this point, nobody’s been seriously hurt. Two firefighters had to deploy emergency shelters, but other than minor burns, they’ll be OK.
Wednesday was a pretty calm day, and the firefighters spent Tuesday night, all day Wednesday, and all Wednesday night trying to put out all the hot-spots before today and Friday, as those are going to be red-flag warning days. Red Flag days mean 20mph sustained winds and gusts up in the 35mph range, which could lead to a really bad next few days with spot fires (if they occur).
The fire has burned in mostly unpopulated areas (forest), but the spot fire made it right down to the edge of the city. With things as dry as they are, additional spot fires could be a real problem. There are about 2100 active firefighters out there right now watching for spot fires around the edge of the city, and jumping on the instantly when they pop up.
Some random statistics/information from Thursday’s local paper, the Tahoe Tribune:
– Name: Angora Fire (as of Wednesday, June 27th):
– Acres burned: 3100
– Number of Evacuees: 3,000 (most are staying in local hotels for free)
– Homes Destroyed: 229
– Homes severly damaged: 13
– Homes threatened: 750
– Estimated Structural Damage: $141 million
– Fire fighting cost: $5.5 million, should total between $15 million and $30 million
– Number of fire fighters: 2175
– Number of fire engines: 164
Now for some more esoteric stats that they felt important enough to publish:
– Number of portable toilets: 99
– Number of meals per day: 3 major, food always available
– Coffee per meal: 90 pounds
– Pallets of water/sport drinks per day: 90
– Average cost per lunch: $8
– Average cost per dinner: $18
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