Firefighters pounce on two small blazes

Two small fires on the South Shore this weekend are still under investigation.

Without any lightning, it is clear they were human caused.

“We’ve had an exceptionally windy summer and people need to remember if they don’t properly maintain and extinguish their campfires or if they carelessly smoke in the forest, it’s easy for a wildfire to get started and spread under these warm and dry conditions,” Kit Bailey, fire chief with the Lake Tahoe Basin Management Unit, told Lake Tahoe News.

The National Weather Service in Reno issued a red flag warning for today in the basin because of the threat of fire.

The fire in Round Hill started about noon July 17. It was across from the Tahoe Douglas fire station. Tahoe Douglas Fire Protection District and the Forest Service responded and the fire was knocked down quickly. It was about one-tenth of an acre.

One of the Alert Tahoe cameras captured the smoke from that fire.

The other fire was near the Forest Service office behind Ross in South Lake Tahoe. The fire was approximately 5 feet by 5 feet.

“I’d also like to add folks need to remember the Lake Tahoe Basin is in fire restrictions and that means campfires are only allowed in approved locations and smoking is restricted to enclosed vehicles, buildings or exempted recreation sites,” Bailey said.

More info about fire restrictions is available online.

— Lake Tahoe News staff report