Crews lose ground, no containment in Washington Fire
One of the many aircraft drops retardant on the Washington Fire on June 22. Photo/Susan Wood
Updated 10:43pm
MARKLEEVILLE — Alpine County’s largest town was like an eerie ghost town Monday evening.
A few kids were playing in front of the cafe on Highway 89. One man was in front of his studio. Otherwise it was like everyone else had abandoned the town. A bowling ball could be rolled through town without hitting anything.
With the 14,942-acre Washington Fire threatening Markleeville, people were not waiting for mandatory evacuation orders before leaving.
More than a dozen structures in the outlying are still threatened. Turtle Creek and Indian Creek campgrounds are closed.
“Today the section of the fire that was initially heading to the northwest toward the town of Markleeville progressed more to the west than north,” firefighters said. “Tactical priority is to keep the fire from spreading farther northwest toward the town of Markleeville.”
The fire is now at zero percent containment, whereas it had been at 10 percent. This is because the high winds made it unsafe for firefighters on June 22. More than 500 firefighters are trying to get a handle on the wildland fire that is burning in a rugged area. It was started by lightning.
Fire crews will be discussing the situation at June 23 at 8am at the Board of Supervisors meeting room, 99 Water St., Markleeville.
— Reporting by Susan Wood
—–
Updated 3:50pm
Hundreds of firefighters are trying to gain control of the Washington Fire, which as of Monday afternoon had burned 9,500 acres.
“Resources are focusing their efforts on the northwest flank of the fire in an effort to protect the town of Markleeville,” officials said.
Markleeville residents have been told to prepare to evacuate, though no evacuations have been ordered.
Heavy smoke is covering the area and can be seen for a great distance.
The fire started by lightning remains 10 percent contained as of 3pm June 22.
—–
The Washington Fire burning near Markleeville has charred between 6,500 and 8,900 acres, officials told Lake Tahoe News on Monday morning.
It is about five miles from the town of Markleeville.
“We are forecasting heavy winds again to day. It grounded the use of aircraft for most of all day yesterday and we’re worried it will happen again today,” Larry Lucas with the U.S. Forest Service told Lake Tahoe News.
Winds are forecast to subside on Tuesday.
The fire is burning in a rugged, remote area that makes it difficult to get ground crews to it.
Officials believe the cause of the fire is lightning. It was first spotted on June 19.
Lucas explained that when there are heavy bursts of lightning and a lot of trees are hit that usually it amounts to nothing. But when there are windy days like what occurred over the weekend, it can whip a smoldering tree into a raging forest fire.
Highways 89 and 4 in the area remain closed. About a dozen structures remain threatened. The fire is 10 percent contained.
–Lake Tahoe News staff report
Stay safe firefighters. Thanks for all you do to keep us safe.
Gardnerville Ranchos are inundated with smoke this morning. Breathing difficult.
No wind this morning, valley full of smoke. No helicopters now probably because of visibly. Just like the rim fire, they waited too long to react for many reasons, but it was a bad call. Could of sent a helicopter right when it started. Overtime and and out of state strike teams will benifit while the health of our air quality, environment, tax monies will all decline.
Dear Pine Tree- I hope your having a good morning in your glass house! Hundreds of men and women are fighting and risking their lives this morning, I’m sure their air quality is worse then yours.
Wow. Do not ever question the decisions of your leaders, Comrades. There will be consequences.
Let’s see-which people should I trust to make decisions concerning this dangerous fire-the perpetually ‘malinformed’ wrongula and her randoid supporters-or professional fire crews and their experienced leadership?
They wait to react….for many reasons. This effects everyone, including the firefighters who now have to go into tough terrains, but you prefer to shoot the messenger.
I prefer my ‘messengers’ to be people who actually know wtf they’re talking about-this is not the only fire in the west-what assets were available when the lightning caused fire 1st started?- there are not unlimited resources to battle every potentially dangerous fire-self righteous fire tax hating Monday morning quarterbacks are a dime a dozen-and overpriced at that
‘Rand-roid’ may now become a legal defense. End of the month, Dog’s out of happy pills….cue the foaming at the mouth.
Dog, you have provided not one shred of evidence that good or poor decisions were made, therefore, by that simple fact, it is not rational to question any decision, just yet. As facts and evidence become available as to the particulars of this fire and the response or lack thereof, we can then all judge do we believe that acted appropriately. Not until then.
You clearly have a poor understanding (kind of a movie idea of reality) of fire, fire behavior, and our abilities related to fighting fire while not putting lives at risk while doing so. Simply said, it is really, really hard to put out a wildfire, particularly if it started in extremely remote and rugged terrain. A fire growing in such conditions and rapidly, is in no way a suitable metric for a lack of response – if anything, it simply reflects the complexities associated with wildfire in remote locations.
I for one, will wait for a debriefing of the facts before I pass judgement – but as a scientist I am inflicted with a disease that requires evidence.
Rick
Somehow I am not surprised to see that the largest critics of California and Lake Tahoe politics live either out of the Basin or in other states.
Armchair quarter-backing firefighters is a new low. Give it a rest guys.
Stay safe firefighters and neighbors!
There are always consequences. Choosing to live or build a home in remote forest areas has consequences. Making your living being a firefighter has consequences. Living in the western united states has consequences. Bring an american taxpayer has consequences. Being a armchair critic has consequences (see above comments). So whats your point wrongula?
Not taking one’s psych meds, or taking too many of tgem too early in the month so that you run out before you can refill them has consequences. Case in point: Dogula tends to ramp up her hysterical screeching the last third of any given month. I bet if her trailer was at risk of burning down out there by Topaz Lake and her meth cooking gun dealer neighbor waz threatened she’d be singing praises to them gub’mint paid feye-ah fighta’s and calling them heroes.
Brooke your innuendo appears coveting, as do others, as if it should bother me. However what is bothersome is; The Rim fire emited as much greenhouse gas as 2.3 million cars. Busines in Lake Tahoe and surrounding areas went down 20%.
Children couldnt play outside, as they shouldnt today. My close family and friends are fire fighters whom I love and admire. Mega fires have become a reality. The Sierras is low to average for fire so far this year. A reason to not use extreme caution and respond early?. Now they are using the DC10s (available in the area) and 11 helicopters and 6 other air tankers. Sadly not one last Friday or even Saturday when the fire was approx 70 acres. In rocky terrain as if that should not be a problem when it is in the Sierras.
Very well done 2 part documentary of the South Canyon Fire:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PqWa7QhhkMg
Fire is complicated.
Look at a map of the area and where the fire started. The only way to approach it would be directly in to foretasted strong wind. And look how fast it grew. Not safe. I am not an expert but at least I have the mind to contemplate these things.
“Armchair quarter-backing firefighters is a new low. ”
I’ve read worse but yes this is pretty bad.
Asking if the fire was a priority and was given adequate resources early is important as it is for every fire. Right now there are very few fires near populated areas and threatening them. Questions by people, the tax-payers, who pay for the services and expect the resources to be used when a fire is first discovered, is important. Leftist blabbering attacking the people with questions is useless time wasting and really pointless.
Justice, you clearly did not read the post. Dog did not ask the question was there a suitable response, she explicitly stated there was not, yet provided no evidence to back her claim, other than it grew rapidly and therefore they must not have responded quickly – a classic tautology. You are correct, it is important to understand what the response was, but at present, neither Dog, you nor I have any credible evidence to determine if the response was or was not appropriate. This may come as a shock, but even with our best efforts, fires can get out of hand; assuming that it was do to incompetence when you have no evidence is reckless and stupid.
Based on your post, you also haven’t the foggiest how thorough the response was or was not, or you would have stated so. But expecting a thoughtful response from you is a clear waste of time.
Enjoy, Rick