Massive effort holds blaze at Lake Tahoe
SEVIL OMER
RENO GAZETTE-JOURNAL
Posted: 8/19/2007
Modified: 8/19/2007
STORY CHAT(read or post comments) Past wildfires
TAHOE CITY -- A wind-driven fire sparked by a blaze in a home that eventually destroyed at least four structures was being contained Saturday night.
No injuries were reported in the wildfire that forced evacuations in the Sunnyside area, closed a portion of California 89 and prompted a massive firefighting effort.
The fire may have started at a single home and spread by wind to other structures and vegetation in the lakeside community, according to initial reports. No official determination had been made Saturday night, the U.S. Forest Service reported.
The extent of the damage was not immediately known. Private land and U.S. Forest Service property burned.
Crews received the report about 1:30 p.m. Saturday. They hoped to contain the fire to 15 acres by late in the night. The Tahoe Woods residential area remained under mandatory evacuation, said Todd Chaponot the Forest Service. Other area residents were returning to their homes.
Crews planned to remain at the site Sunday and put out any hot spots, KRNV News 4 reports.
Getting out
The wildfire terrified tourists and residents who watched the air assault from the roads.
"This is the most frightening thing I have ever seen," said Karen DeMiranda of Newport Beach, Calif. She emptied out the refrigerator of juices and fruits and handed them to the crews fighting spot fires that erupted dangerously close.
As a fire danced its way up steep terrain, Chris Byrne and the Slide Mountain Hand Crew hacked away at timber in efforts to create lines and breaks Saturday evening.
"We're watching for the logs burning up in the slopes," Byrne said. "If one starts to smolder and roll, it will be headed our way. As you can see, the logs are way up there and burning."
Up above the slopes, timber glowed orange as flames engulfed the blackened trees creating an eerie landscape of burning earth. Smoke moved like a snake throughout the pine, slithering down and underneath firefighters' feet.
The Slide Mountain Hand Crew, dispatched from Incline Village, headed to Sequoia and Washoe ways shortly after 2 p.m. Crews from Marysville and Northern California to the east in Nevada responded to help in the fire fight.
Flames as close as 30 feet flickered as DeMiranda handed Tropicana to Byrne's crew.
DeMiranda and another family were leaving their vacation home on Sequioa Way at 7 p.m. DeMiranda said she and 10 others watched the smoke billow from the beach earlier that day. They headed back to find the fire in their front yard.
"We're not chancing this," DeMiranda said. "We have some friends across the lake and we're planning to stay there, even if it's on the kitchen floor."
At the scene
For others who remained on the west shore, Red Cross volunteers set up shelter for evacuees. Many homeowners, however, remained on the nearby streets waiting for word.
Homeowners like Greg Green, who lives on Washoe Way. He packed up everything and was ready to leave when it was absolutely necessary.
"This is something else," Green said. "But I'm ready to roll."
California Highway Patrol officers stopped Jackie Lewis of Sacramento from walking onto the beach in Tahoe City.
"No one is allowed," the officer said Saturday afternoon.
"But my brother is getting married right over there on the beach. I have to go," Lewis said. She stood by the road as a procession of vehicles stopped bumper-to-bumper on 89 during the evacuation of Lake Tahoe's west shore.
"I don't know what to do," she said. "I don't even know if my brother is getting married," Lewis said.
Tears and worry
Worry and uncertainty shrouded Tahoe's west shore as firefighters unfurled efforts to get ahead of the blaze.
Karen Parvin from Sacramento openly wept as she searched the roads for a sign of her son, 12-year-old Alex Parvin.
Parvin said she and her family are staying at a cabin on Tahoe's shore. Her husband stayed behind in the cabin while she headed out to see if she could spot her son.
Ed Sorensen of Lincoln, Calif., had rented a cabin near Tahoe City to visit with his son and three grandchildren.
He said despite news of the fire, they decided to take a ride along the bike path adjacent to California 89.
"We noticed the fire five miles south of Tahoe City," Sorensen said. "There were people being evacuated from an Episcopal church where a wedding was going on. We began hearing reports of houses burning and a helicopter flew overhead dropping water from Lake Tahoe.
"We could see flames right behind homes about 125 yards from 89," he said. "The trees behind the homes were all in smoke."
The scene
An evacuation center was set up at the Fairway Community Center at 330 Fairway Drive in Tahoe City.
California 89 was closed from Tahoe City to South Lake Tahoe during the late afternoon. A mile long line of cars headed out of the Tahoe City.
Residents and visitors packed with traffic moving out of the community, and fire crews moving in.
Graham Rock could see the fire from his location at Chambers Landing Restaurant in Tahoma at mid-afternoon Saturday.
"I've got a spectacular, actually I guess a horrible view of it right now," Rock said.
-- With reports from Guy Clifton and Michael Martinez of the Reno Gazette-Journal staff.
news.rgj.com |
