red flag warning

Expect high winds and waves up to four feet on Thursday as a low pressure weather system drops from the Pacific Coast and passes through the Lake Tahoe basin. Winds will be 15-20 mph with gusts up to 25 mph.

With an increase in winds also comes an increase in fire dangers.

Dry condition paired with gusty winds can cause fires to get large before responders can get to them.

The Red Flag warning is from August 13 at 2 p.m. to August 14 at 11 a.m.
The Lake Wind Advisory lasts from August 13 at 2 p.m. to August 14 at 5 p.m.

6:00 p.m. update 6/29/15

Firefighters made a lot of progress on the fire lines at the Washington Fire south of Markleeville on Monday, gaining containment of 56% of the perimeter. So far, 17,787 acres have burned.

The lightning caused fire grew quickly a week ago, from 30 acres on June 19 to 6,500 acres by June 21.

At one time, over 1,100 fire personnel were working on suppression of the fire. Those numbers were reduced today to 860 as containment grew.

The Tahoe Douglas Fire District and Skyland Fire Adapted Community will execute an inter-agency wildfire evacuation drill on Monday, June 8, 2015 between the hours of 10 a.m. – 2 p.m. The drill will simulate a real evacuation event to give residents the opportunity to practice evacuating from their homes and getting to the designated safe zone. Situations which could cause a neighborhood evacuation would be a wildfire, earthquake, hazardous spill or some other catastrophic event.

UPDATE 8:02PM: State Route 207 Kingsbury Grade is now open to motorists with controls. Please use caution around firefighters and equipment that remain working the fire.

Fire personnel will remain on scene to gain further containment of this fire. The cause of this fire is still under investigation.

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UPDATE: 7:17PM: Around 200 firefighters remain on scene tonight on the Kings fire on the Carson Valley side of Kingsbury Grade near Lake Tahoe. The fire is approximately 4 to 5 acres in size, Douglas County authorities report. Containment is estimated by 8 p.m.

South Lake Tahoe fire crews responded Tuesday night to a small brush fire, about quarter acre or less in size off of Eloise and 7th street. It was knocked down at 8:16 p.m. Firefighters who arrived reported smoke billowing with a low rate of spread and were able to get a handle on it with the fire trucks called to it. Firefighters built a "scratch line" ring around the fire and quickly knocked it down. The fire was called in at 8:10 p.m.
A Red Flag Warning for gusty winds and low humidity is in effect for the Sierra and Lake Tahoe Basin through Wednesday.

UPDATE 10:55AM: The Springs fire in the Pine Nut mountains east of Gardnerville in Douglas County held to 1,000 acres overnight and is five percent contained, according to Sierra Front Interagency Dispatch Center. Scattered thunderstorms are in the forecast today.

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10:13PM: Smoke moved into the Lake Tahoe Basin on Sunday night as a result of Sunday afternoon fires sparked by lightning in Douglas County which have reportedly burned about 1,000 acres in the Pine Nut mountains east of Gardnerville. Fire crews are still working the scene, which was said to be growing at a moderate rate. Thunderstorms rattled much of western Nevada Sunday afternoon. Some scattered showers could happen in the Lake Tahoe Basin tonight, according to the National Weather Service in Reno. A Red Flag warning for high winds is in effect for the mountains east of the Lake Tahoe Basin until 5 a.m. Monday morning.

A Red Flag warning has been issued by the National Weather Service in Reno until 10 p.m. Thursday night for the Lake Tahoe Basin, Eastern Sierra and Western Nevada. Low pressure associated with a jet stream will pass over the Sierra today producing low humidity and gusty winds to 40 mph across Northeast California, the Lake Tahoe Basin and the Eastern Sierra. The combination of law humidity and wind will create critical fire conditions, according to the weather service.

An area of low pressure will push a cold front across northern California and Nevada Friday, producing gusty afternoon and early evening winds. These winds will combine with low relative humidity to create critical fire weather conditions for the Lake Tahoe Basin and Sierra, according to the National Weather Service in Reno.
Southwest winds Friday afternoon will become west Friday evening with sustained speeds of 15 to 30 mph and gusts of 40 to 45 mph.

MINDEN, Nev. - It's hard to plan for fire season when the concept has been rendered irrelevant by this year's dry winter."Having a red flag warning on a January day is unheard of," East Fork Fire D...