Discarded hot ashes catch S. Tahoe house on fire

Placing hot ashes on a combustible wood deck caused a South Lake Tahoe house to catch fire Jan. 12.

The fire at 1394 Matheson Drive started at 12:30pm on the deck, moved up the exterior wall and started to move into the residence as firefighters arrived on scene.

“It was in between the wall and sheet rock, trying to make its way into the attic,” Karl Koeppen, shift commander with the South Lake Tahoe Fire Department, told Lake Tahoe News.

A resident was home at the time and was temporarily evacuated. The house is habitable.

Koeppen warns people that ashes should be placed in a metal container with a lid and then stored on a non-combustible surface and not near anything that could catch fire.

— Lake Tahoe News staff report