Monday, June 25, 2007

Fire

I finally got the DSL hooked up, just in time to leave town for several days of family get-togethers. And then once I got back, I was pretty busy with house stuff. So, sorry for the dearth of posts.

You may have noticed on the news, there is a big fire burning in the Tahoe Basin. The basin has a lot of very dry timber, and we fear that we are at risk for a devastating fire, which makes this particularly scary. Fortunately, we do not appear to be in any danger. The fire is down at South Shore, and we are on the West Shore. The winds are generally to the East here, which should encourage the fire away from us, rather than towards us. The winds have calmed down considerably today, helping the firefighting efforts, so hopefully this fire will will not threaten anyone for much longer.

Sunday afternoon, we heard a lot of fire engines going by, all afternoon long, and we figured that something was going on. We got the details from the news and knew where to look as we drove toward the North Shore for our dinner plans.the entire south and east shores were covered in smoke (it was an absolutely cloudless day).
On Sunday, the winds were quite strong as well as gusty, which kept the smoke heading east, and most of it was going over the Carson Range and beyond the Tahoe Basin. This morning, the winds had mostly died down , which is great for fighting the fire, but the smoke began to settle in the basin. It is hazy with the smoke, and I've seen a bit of ash floating around. Tim took the picture below from the boat as I drove north to pick up some friends for a cruise.
For those who have expressed concern, thank you for thinking of us. We are fine and do not appear to be threatened at all by this fire. It does remind us of the danger of living on the edge of the wilderness.

Updates:
-At a press conference around noon, it was anounced that this fire is only 5% contained. Officials feel that they have two days to get it contained, because the wind is forcasted to kick up again on Wednesday.
-The calm winds that I thought would help firefighters are good and bad. The smoke is sitting in the basin making things hazy and the lack of visibilty has kept the tankers and helicopters out of the mix today.

3 comments:

Gwenny said...

Good job on the DSL! It's great to know that you aren't in any danger. That fire looks horrendous! Hi to Tim. We are looking forward to taking you up on the invite in the near future! :-) Gwen

Emily said...

Thanks for the pics. Glad to hear you guys aren't likely to be in any danger. In fact, my mother just called me to ask about where you were in relation to the fire!

Jennifer said...

Very glad to hear from you! I was pretty sure you weren't being threatened by the fire, but I even pulled out the CA map last night to check. I'll keep my fingers crossed that they get it under control quickly.