Saturday, October 15, 2016

Sierra Nevada Wildfires Destroying Homes and Forcing Evacuations

A trio of wind-whipped wildfires burning along the Sierra Nevada destroyed 22 homes north of Carson City, forced hundreds of evacuations at Lake Tahoe and temporarily closed a major highway connecting Reno to the mountain lake.
The wildland blaze that continued to burn out of control Friday night has charred about three square miles of brush and timber. It has forced the closures of numerous schools and roads and triggered widespread power outages. The powerful winds fanning the flames reached gusts in excess of 100 mph over the top of the Sierra early Friday. Nearly 10,000 residents were without power at one point. NV Energy said it was restored to all but about 1,000 by 7pm.

The fire that prompted the evacuation of 500 homes on the south end of Lake Tahoe was estimated to be 25% contained, thanks in part to rain showers from the storm packing the powerful winds. That fire has burned about 200 acres and forced the closure of part of California Highway 89 but fire officials said they were getting the upper hand on the blaze Friday evening.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/oct/15/nevada-wildfires-destroys-homes-forces-evacuations



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