USFS quick to contain fire in Desolation Wilderness
Firefighters were able to quickly extinguish a blaze started by an illegal campfire at Granite Lake in Desolation Wilderness.
Despite the high winds on March 31, the fire did not spread.
Illegal and unattended campfires cause more 90 percent of wildfires in the Lake Tahoe Basin, according to the U.S. Forest Service.
“While we realize the warm weather, combined with lack of snow has given folks early access to recreation areas, people need to remember that campfires are only allowed in designated campgrounds and are not allowed on National Forest beaches or in the Desolation Wilderness,” Fire Management Officer Steve Burns said in a statement. “We need the public to be mindful of the current fire danger and help prevent human-caused wildfires by not building illegal campfires.”
For information on campfire safety, go online.
— Lake Tahoe News staff report
Glad to hear the USFS got the fire out at Granite Lake before it spread. Be careful with fireplace and BBQ ashes. Make sure they are fully out before disposal. Put them in a metal can away fom your house and anythng flammable and anything that might catch fire nearby. Wait a week them put them out for disposal.No illeagal campfires! We don’t want another Angora fire!
Be fire safe and water wise. OLS
We should ban hikers, they obviously cant be trusted.
Illegal camp fires happen all of the time around the Lake. Go out any weekend summer night and you can find them. At the point next to Taylor Creek, on the beach near the home area at Baldwin Beach and over at Bliss are the three most common areas. I see them every summer and report them to the Fire Department every summer. Sad thing is last summer on a Saturday in late July at Bliss at 5 pm someone started a bonfire on the beach. About 75 people still there at the beach and no one accept me did anything about it. Even worse was the Fire Department in Myers had no clue where that beach was located.
“We should ban hikers, they obviously cant be trusted.”
Oh… you are one of those people who think they are clever saying ‘ban x’.
Saw me a bunch of Chinese tourists last year up by Showers lake while on a backpacking trip. Middle of summer on a breezy night having a HUGE bonfire. We went right over and poured 2, 5 gallon jugs on it. Almost got into a fight as they went nuts. Could not communicate the Chinese word for forest fire. Stupidity and ignorance knows no boundries.
No race, gender, or generation has a corner on the stupidity market. Idiotic behavior is a HUMAN inherent trait in a certain percentage of the population.
So instead of inferring that it was people of a certain race responsible, why not just chalk it up to stupid humans?
Mike. The really sad part about the beach areas you mentioned is that if you dig about a foot down in the sand you run into the old fire pits, broken bottles and cans.