Full Notification

Thanks to a quick response and lots of help from our cooperating agencies, the wildland fire north of Squaw Valley Road and west of State Route 89 has been contained at less than an acre. The fire was reported just before noon and was burning on a steep slope about 300 yards west of the highway. Firefighters from Squaw Valley Fire Department hiked into the fire and took initial suppression action. Two U.S. Forest Service engines from the Truckee Ranger District of the Tahoe National Forest arrived and made an initial hoselay into the fire, followed by two CalFIRE engines which laid another hoselay directly from the highway to the fire. A CalFIRE Air Tactics plane arrived from the Grass Valley Air Attack Base, followed by two CalFIRE air tankers which dropped retardant, slowing the uphill spread of the fire.

A Forest Service helicopter and crew (Quincy Helitack from the Plumas National Forest) dropped multiple bucket loads of water on the fire (dipped from the ponds on the Resort at Squaw Creek golf course - thank you to the Resort and General Manager Andre Priemer for your indulgence - much appreciated!). The bucket work helped take the heat out for the fire and allowed the CalFIRE hand crews to get a good line around the fire and start mopping up.

Great cooperation among all of the agencies and having lots of help was the key. We're going to have fires - that's a given in California this year - keeping them small, like this one, is our goal.

Be fire safe and let's get that defensible space work done!!