That’s the view from the front of Liz’ parents’ furniture store in South Lake Tahoe as of about 2:45 PM on Sunday. I know… I took the picture. It was about 4-5 miles from where we were. Note that this is only about half an hour after the fire began… at this point, it was only about 50-100 acres. At last count, the fire had consumed well over 2,500 acres. We went up to Tahoe on Sunday, and were supposed to head back that night. Well, if you’ve been following the fire news, it’s fairly obvious why that didn’t happen. We ended up finally being able to make our way home by travelling around the east side of the lake and heading up to I-80. We just got home this afternoon.
Liz’ parents are okay, as is the store. Her neice and her boyfriend live in the danger zone, but from what I understand, the fire hasn’t yet reached where they live – and I also hear its progress has been more or less halted in that direction. Her old high school was also in harm’s way, but I believe they built a firebreak around it and it’s safe as well.
However, there were quite a number of others who were not so lucky. While nobody has been hurt, (which is amazing for a fire this size) 178 homes are already confirmed to be destroyed, and the fire is only 40% contained as of the time I wrote this. Many of these people are friends of Liz and her family – and are now without a home.
If you’re able to help, I encourage you to visit This page at the Reno Gazette Journal for information on what you can do. More ongoing information about the fire can be found at the Tahoe Daily Tribune.
