Mosquito fire grows past 50,000 acres in ‘historically dry’ brush as another blaze ignites west of Tahoe
This fire of historic magnitude is burning in the foothills on the north side of Lake Tahoe.
As the fire grows it will be fueled by rain that fell in the past few days, said Cal Fire spokesman Ken Pimlott. The fire is in a historic low of only about half an acre per hour. The blaze erupted Friday morning in the Sierra Nevada above the town of Calistoga, igniting thousands of acres of tinder-dry vegetation, according to Cal Fire.
The fire is expected to grow larger as it burns into the foothills north and west of Lake Tahoe, with flames shooting up from 10,000 to 20,000 feet. The fire is 50,000 acres and running along the northern shore of Lake Tahoe, according to Cal Fire.
The fire was sparked when a tree fell on an electric fence on Thursday, knocking a pole and sparking a fire, said Cal Fire spokesman Robyn Sacco. The fire, which has since been contained, destroyed the wooden fence and the pole, she said.
“At this point we don’t have any other specifics about what caused the fire to occur,” Pimlott said.
At 8 a.m. Saturday, officials with the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection asked residents to use caution in areas where brush fires may be possible because of the large number of wildfires burning above Lake Tahoe.
Lake Tahoe has been a hot spot for hot spots in late April and early May, with a series of catastrophic fires burning a total of 52,000 acres of tinder-dry brush since the beginning of the year, according to the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection.
More than a dozen people have been killed due to natural disasters in the United States this year. In 2012, there were 17,944 fatal disasters, according to the federal agency.
This fire grew out of the fires that erupted in the Sierra Nevada last week, with a series of devastating fires devastating both communities and homes around Lake Tahoe — including the community of Calistoga.
“We’ve heard some of the stories from