Winds whip Markleeville fire to 6,500 acres
Updated 11:45pm
The Washington Fire had consumed 6,500 acres as of late Sunday.
The blaze nearly 10 miles south of Markleeville continues to be a threat to multiple structures.
“The entire fire area is under extreme winds. The fire is continuing short uphill runs and single tree/group torching,” authorities said.
Winds on June 21 were from the south, with the fire burning northeast.
Updated 5:45pm
Sustained winds are making it difficult for firefighters to get a handle on the fire burning south of Markleeville. By Sunday afternoon 3,500 acres had burned.
No structures have burned, but about two dozen remain threatened.
A spot fire started on the west side of Highway 4, forcing the evacuation up the Carson River to the north end of Markleeville. Protecting that town — the county seat of Alpine County is the highest priority right now.
The fire is in the Bagley Valley, having moved to the north side of Highway 89.
Monitor pass is closed at Highway 89 and Highway 4 is closed.
——
The Washington Fire burning about 10 miles south of Markleeville has grown to more than 1,300 acres.
Five residences are threatened and evacuated, and an additional 15 historic cabins are threatened.
The fire started in a remote and rugged area in the Silver Creek Drainage, which is making hard for crews get a handle on the blaze. The fire is now in the Wolf Creek Drainage. Five helicopters and three air tankers are working the fire along with crews on the ground.
The cause of the fire that started the night of June 19 is still unknown. However, there was no lightning a that time.
Highway 4 is closed to the top of Ebbetts Pass. Campgrounds have been evacuated.
This has been declared a red flag day — meaning a severe fire threat because of winds and humidity.
The U.S. Forest Service is the lead agency.
— Lake Tahoe News staff report
keep em safe LORD.
Forest Service fire incident website is claiming 6500 acres. With orders for structure protection for the town of Markleeville. I haven’t heard what they think started this one.
I’m glad that the report includes “there was no lightning in the area at the time” because too often people think these fires are started by lightning when they are started by people. Human fires tend to be the worst because they aren’t spotted until the wind whips them up into a conflagration. Every forest in the West is critically dry which means we all face the threat if we have trees near our homes. A smokey summer seems to be awaiting all of us, unfortunately.
I wish they had jumped on it harder and faster; these winds were predicted. Now it’s crazy big.
“The fire started in a remote and rugged area”
Might have something to do with your perceived lack of response. The world is complicated.
Prunes, and now Markleeville is threatened, because they did not respond in a timely manner. As I said, today’s winds were predicted. Why weren’t the people who get paid the big bucks paying attention?
If I lived there, I’d be ticked, since they are forced (as we are) to pay an extra fee for fire protection.
Dogula, when you look in a mirror you are looking at an idiot.
Big wind in Meyers today. Creepy.
Moral Hazard, does being rude make you feel like a big man?
Dogula You’re just what we need another arm chair quarterback. Can you tell us what your qualifications are as far as knowing what you are talking about?
Fifty, I saw the column rise yesterday early, just like I watched the column rise at the start of the Angora Fire. I called people. I talked to people with El Dorado County Dispatch. They were concerned too. But the Feds didn’t seem too concerned, because they didn’t move on it. I was keeping track all day.
What kind of qualifications does one need when one sees massive smoke and big winds coming?
I wasn’t the only one, either. Not sure why you want to attack me on this. . . do you LIKE massive fires?
Dog, Moral Hazard’s comment was rude, but he made a valid point. You talk to someone who (dispatch) really has no clue how organized the response was. Just two folks operating in an evidence-less world gossiping that it must be a poor response as to why a fire in a remote rugged part of the region grew – golly I wonder how. In case you are unaware it was windy yesterday also, not as windy as today but certainly was not calm. I know this because I rode from Meyers to Hope Valley down Woodsford over to Foothill and came back up Kingsbury.
So neither you nor I have any evidence on how good or poor the response was and therefore, no one not involved in the response (including your uninformed source – dispatcher) knows much if anything the command structure of this particularly fire. So maybe you should wait and operate from knowledge not gossip. If you haven’t figured it out, that was the basis of Moral’s comment.
Rick
‘Prunes, and now Markleeville is threatened, because they did not respond in a timely manner’
—
“Steep rocky terrain, lack of vehicle access, and heavy timber with numerous downfalls are hampering firefighting progress.”
We can give you all of the answers and details you need to figure it out but it is up to you to keep failing at processing it.
Wrongula = finger pointer who just wants some lame reason to bi tch about the federal government. Cuz if she was in charge everything would be perfect, NOT LIKELY.
Sorry Dog I have to agree with most everyone here. The guys that work these fires and the dispatch centers are not the lazy government type. Most of them want more than anything to put the damn thing out. You just can’t throw bodies down a canyon in a bad wind and hope all the dead guys will put it out. You have to do a lot of waiting till things are in your favor to succeed. Right now this fire is just burning sage and juniper, when the access gets a little better and the weather cooperates you might see this fire start to be extinguished.
Repeating my self , MAN the fire watch towers !!!!
An early warning system was put in place after a huge fire in 1910 .
The BIG BLOWUP fire was considered the largest fire in US history at the time and was the reason fire watch towers were established by the U.S. Forest Service.
It seems like the approach has changed because fires are natural and create a healthy forest , go figure that out.
I think we need to go back to early detection and firefighting as fast as possible, before fires become unmanageable .
Check out National Geographic June 2015 issue and photo in rear cover.
Steve
Steve…and then what?
The fire is in steep inaccessible terrain and initial attack forces couldn’t GET THERE.
You are Dogula with a different screen name right?
Just what firefighting professionals need is some know-it-all blowhard telling them what they should do-tying up dispatch phone lines with their incessant hate gubmint twaddle
When I was a wildland fire fighter the crew leader had to make decisions that in a moments notice could change the course of the fire and possibly the life or death of their crew. The conditions yesterday were alot like the ones on the day of the angora fire with strong winds early in the morning getting stronger as the day progressed. Fires happen, natural caused or human caused, they are gonna happen and we have to respond accordingly. There is no resource out there that is worth the life of any firefighter or their crew (IMHO) and the professional fire personnel are trained to make the best decisions possible. Lets let the firefighters do their job.
I hope they get the Washington fire contained and put out as soon as possible. Markleeville is just right over the hill and we’ve got LOTS of dry trees from years of drought here in the Tahoe area.
Spend the money and put the boots on the ground so the fire is put out and no one loses a life or their homes.
Be smart, be fire safe and conserve water. OLS
Where were the retardant planes and strike teams on Saturday, before the winds got so big?
Why are so many of you so quick to call private businesses to task for their mistakes, but you defend civil service sacred cows like pit bulls when they don’t get it right?
INCIDENT UPDATED 4 MIN. AGO
Approximate Location 38.592 latitude, -119.752 longitude
Highway 89 and Highway 4 are both closed, until further notice.
Washington Fire Grows to Around 8000 Acres
The lightning caused Washington Fire started 45 miles south of Carson City Nevada. The fire grew to around 8000 acres since initial attack efforts began on Saturday June 19 at around 7:00 p.m. The extreme fire activity being witnessed with the Washington Fire is primarily due to strong erratic winds and severe drought conditions. These two variables also played a role in firefighting efforts for both air and ground support yesterday.
On Sunday June 21, the Type 3 Sierra Front Incident Management Team was assigned to the Washington fire. A transition to a Type 2 incident management team was carried out as of 6:00 a.m. Monday June 22. The interagency Incident Management Team (Great Basin Team 4-Wilcox) took over operation due to the complexities of the incident. Approximately 300 personnel are assigned to the incident with more to arrive today. Fire officials will utilize both air and ground support, in their efforts to combat the blaze. As of 8pm last night the fire was estimated to be approximately 10% contained.
The fire is burning southeast of the mountain community of Markleeville, California. Several campgrounds along Highway 4 to the north end of Markleeville have been evacuated. In addition, Highways 4 and 89 in the Monitor Pass area are closed. As a precaution, Markleeville residences have been advised to prepare for an evacuation if the need arise, however, no mandatory evacuations are in effect for Markleeville at this time.
The weather forecast calls for another day of high winds which will hamper containment efforts. While the winds are expected to subside after today high temperatures are forecasted later in the week along with possible thunder storms that can cause erratic localized winds later in the week.
Basic Information
Current as of 6/21/2015, 10:07:11 PM
Incident Type Wildfire
Cause Lightning/natural
Date of Origin Friday June 19th, 2015 approx. 07:00 PM
Location On CA Highways 4 and 89, 8 to 10 miles south of Markleeville, CA.
Incident Commander Stacey Saucedo
Current Situation
Total Personnel 255
Size 6,500 Acres
Percent of Perimeter Contained 10%
Fuels Involved
Timber (Litter and Understory)
Significant Events
Extreme, Wind Driven Runs
Outlook
Planned Actions
Continue with fire suppression and transition to Type II IMT on Monday. Prioritize air attack early in the day when conditions are optimal.
Remarks
Forecast for gusty winds and low relative humidity of 4 to 5 percent continues. Fire is burning in hazardous and inaccessible terrain and approaching an increasing number of structures and impacting travel corridors.
Current Weather
Weather Concerns
Red Flag conditions, hot and dry gusty winds will persist. High winds are continuing overnight contributing to poor relative humidity recovery. Hundred hour fuel moisture ratings are historically low at 4 to 5.
The origin of the fire has been deemed a lightning strike and it’s over 8000 acres.http://inciweb.nwcg.gov/incident/4317/
Wrongula, go take your meds
all you want to do is start a fight and be hatefu.l you seem to excell in that…
Nice work, Dog. Thanks for the comprehensive update on the “Markleeville Fire Washington Fire”.
Feds, private sector, volunteers, everyone works hard to put out these fires. They all deserve credit.
‘Where were the retardant planes and strike teams on Saturday, before the winds got so big?’
Can someone please explain to her how and when planes are used? If we don’t address this maelstrom of ignorance now we will have to evacuate this article.
Wasn’t there another fire in Alpine seems to me about the mid 1980’s that wiped out the Woodfords canyon area and some homes. I seem to recall it was a federal mistake in that it wasn’t hit hard enough soon enough and caused much more damage. I remember a big lawsuit then that did find fault. I would like to hear from the feds about their response to this fire and what resources were used or not and if the thought was it would stay remote and not move towards the occupied areas which with the high winds forecast would be a serious gamble.
Good news: So far this morning the wind in the Carson Valley (and, consequently, the Markleeville area) has been light to non-existent.
Bad news: With the light wind the smoke is beginning to stack up down here.
So whom should I sue?
Justice: That was the Acorn fire.
I can see by the slow response to the Wash. fire our Fire (extortion) TAX is NOT being used as we were told. How surprising!!
Justice,
I remember that fire. They thought it was under control and sent units home by mistake.
After it was out of control the firefighters made some heroic stands to save many homes.
I can remember driving through the area weeks after the fire and seeing miles of scorched earth with homes and a little bit of landscaping sticking out.
Wrongula-thanks for the update from our professional public sector firefighters-do them all a favor and stfu
The after-effects of that fire in the canyon that took 26 homes can still be seen today. I can recall that the people of Woodfords were not happy with what happened. I heard the USFS told the volunteers to “wait” for the professionals who were hours away and I am sure there was much more in the lawsuit about what happened. In the case of this fire let us hope it stays south and burns into the wilderness as there are some very historic areas and cabins that are threatened and the winds yesterday were extreme.
“UPDATE: 12 p.m., Monday, June 22: Reverse 911 was issued for Markleeville and the immediate surrounding area to prepare for evacuation in the event the fire makes a run for the town, though a mandatory evacuation notice has not been issued.
The latest measurement of the Washington Fire stood at 8,900 acres with low humidity and gusting winds expected to continue through the remainder of the day.”
CVT
Da mn ed if they do, da mn ed if they dont.
the dull tacks on this thread just keep pointing fingers…go figure
Why is the markleeville Fire called Washington fire?