Okay, so I guessed wrong. The fire is actually in Yosemite, about 250 miles away. The wind must have shifted, since we got a massive amount of smoke pouring into the valley in the space of about five hours. Who knows how long it will stick around. Still looking for a story on the web, and still can’t find one.

[Update] I found Yosemite’s info page on the fire in question. Only 200 acres!! But the TV news that reported it currently has nothing on their website.

Makes for cool sunsets, though.

So Tahoe got off easy today. But its time will come. It can’t hide forever.

A thin orange haze started filling the skies earlier today. Not much, just a slightly noticable tint to the sunlight. Now it’s becoming a thick orange haze, with a very distinctive smell. That can only mean one thing: Wildfire! And given the wind direction and where the smoke seems to be coming from, my uneducated guess puts the fire somewhere near Lake Tahoe.

Due to years of drought, disease, and bark beetles, the Tahoe Basin is basically a big box of dry kindling. One match and the whole place could go up like a flashpot. It’s a credit to the firefighters that Tahoe hasn’t had its big one yet. I wonder if this could be it.

I don’t see anything about a fire on the web yet. I’ll have more as I find out, but I’m scheduled to get out of town Thursday morning. I wonder if there will still be a town left to come back to.