Thursday, January 15, 2009

Angora Fire- Summer 2007



The Angora Fire in South Lake Tahoe, California was a wind driven fire that started close to the North Upper Truckee Road area of homes near Angora Lakes, Fallen Leaf Lake, Echo Lake and South Lake Tahoe, California around 2:00 PM on a Sunday, June 24, the year of 2007 because of an illegal campfire, believed to be started by some kids having a party. July 2, 2007, the fire was 100% contained.
The fire burned approximately 3,000 acres and there was a loss of approximately 245 private homes and 68 commercial buildings, it also caused damage to about 33 other homes, including just melting some home’s windows and garage doors. At the height of this fire, there were about 2,200 firefighters battling this monstrous blaze fed by poor wind conditions and warmer weather.
The fire began at approximately 2:15 PM on June 24, 2007 near Seneca Pond, a small lake near Lake Tahoe and the town of Meyers, where I currently am living. During that time, the area was experiencing extremely strong winds and low humidity, which officials believe fanned the fire and created an extremely rapid moving crown fire. A lot of neighborhoods were evacuated right away; these residents had hardly any warning at all, which in turn caused many to lose everything except the vehicles they fled in and the clothes on their backs. I heard that many had just 5 short minutes.
In addition to the strong winds, the fire was also fueled by unusually dry conditions in the Sierra Nevada.
California declared this area a state of emergency, opening up state funds. Full containment of the fire was announced on July 2nd, 2007, two days before the 4th of July holiday.
This is the second 4th of July fire that we have had in my 14 years as a resident of Lake Tahoe, in 2002 someone threw a lit cigarette from the new Gondola which runs up to Heavenly; in turn causing a 2 day fire, however, the city still allowed fireworks that 4th of July and everything went smoothly!

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