Photo by Tod Flowers, USFS
Firefighters have a line around a half-acre fire above Lake Tahoe that was set by lightning.
A chance for thunderstorms is back in the forecast for this weekend, starting near the Nevada Oregon border and spreading south to the eastern side of the Tahoe Basin.
The fire was contained a little more than four hours after it was first spotted at around 2:30 p.m. Friday on the Alert Wildfire Snow Valley camera.
Not taking any chances, a helicopter from Bridgeport Helitack dropped several buckets of water on the blaze on Friday evening.
In addition to the helicopter and engines, Tahoe Douglas Fire’s Zephyr Crew hiked into the site to extinguish the blaze, with firefighters spending the night to ensure the fire didn’t rekindle.
A Thursday evening lightning storm peppered the region with strikes as it drifted north along the Carson Range.
As of Saturday morning, most of the strikes, which were accompanied by downpours in places, haven’t produced any other fires.
A lack of wind and damp conditions kept the fire from spreading while firefighters made their way into the location from Spooner Summit in the north and Kingsbury from the south.
Firefighters have been taking advantage of wet conditions to conduct pile burns from South Lake Tahoe to Incline Village.
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A helicopter has been deployed to douse a half-acre fire burning in Montreal Canyon south of Highway 50, according to the U.S. Forest Service.
Smoke rising from the forest above Lake Tahoe was first spotted around 2:30 p.m. on the Alert Wildfire Snow Valley camera
In addition to the helicopter and engines, Tahoe Douglas Fire’s Zephyr Crew is hiking into the location to extinguish the blaze.
Tahoe-Douglas was called around the same time the fire was spotted.
No cause has been reported for the fire, but Thursday saw multiple lightning strikes across the region that could well have ignited it.
A lack of wind and wet conditions have helped limit the spread of the fire.
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Firefighters are making their way up to a small wildfire above Spooner Summit along Genoa Peak Road.
Tahoe Douglas firefighters were called to aid the U.S. Forest Service for the fire that was spotted around 2:30 p.m.
While no cause or size was reported for the fire, it appeared on the Snow Valley fire camera around the same time.
Access to the fire is complicated by snow that has yet to melt along the route.
The fire doesn’t appear to be spreading from the camera.
Thunderstorms caused multiple lightning strikes in the Sierra and Carson Valley.
