SOUTH LAKE TAHOE, Calif. – The air quality in the Lake Tahoe Basin has been in the moderate range for the past few days due to smoke coming from several fires burning to the southwest of the lake. Those fires are a result of thousands of lightning strikes up and down the state earlier this week. Smoke is expected to continue into Sunday with smoky /hazy skies, affecting air quality.
At 1 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 6, the AirNow.gov smoke map showed the Lake Tahoe Basin in yellow zone, or “moderate” with a section of “unhealthy for sensitive groups” passing over.
The TCU September Lightning Complex in Calaveras, San Joaquin, Stanislaus and Tuolumne counties has burned a total of 13,966 acres and is 42 percent contained. Fires in that area fires are named 6-5 incident (7,027 acres), the 2-7 (606 acres), the 2-8 (1,332 acres), the 2-2 (3,462 acres), and the 6-2 (1,024 acres). The Garnet Fire in Fresno is now 34,138 acres.
