Fire west of Lake Tahoe held to 25 acres; Now 60% contained

Submitted by paula on Sat, 08/06/2016 - 5:05pm

7:20 p.m. update 8-7-16: Firefighters will soon be in clean up mode on the Alder Fire after they made good progress today. They strengthened lines today increasing the containment of the fire to 60 percent.

The cause of the fire is still unknown.

9:00 a.m. update 8-7-16: Firefighters made good progress on the Alder Fire overnight and the fire is now 40 percent contained. The amount of brush and timber burned has been updated to 25 acres.

Firefighters will be working on the south side of the fire on Alder Ridge and strengthening containment lines on Sunday. Concerns for Alder Lookout and the communication site on Alder Ridge remain. Sand Flat campground is impacted due to incident traffic as that road is the major access to the incident. Highway 50 should see increased traffic in the Sand Flat area so travelers should be cautious.

The cause of the fire is under investigation.

Video provided by the Alert Tahoe camera placed at Big Hill.

To follow travel times from South Lake Tahoe to Placerville, follow this link to "Options" and watch "message boards" on the SLT side of the summit: http://quickmap.dot.ca.gov

10:00 p.m. update: Firefighters from the ground and the air were able to get on the Alder Fire right away, and a 10 percent containment line is already around the approximately 30 acre fire.

Firefighters will remain on the scene overnight to strengthen the containment line.

Officials from the El Dorado National Forest have updated the location of the Alder Fire to south of Sand Flat Campground and Highway 50.

The cause of the fire that started at 3:00 p.m. is under investigation.

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There is a fire burning Saturday afternoon west of South Lake Tahoe.

The Alder Fire has burned am estmated 25-30 acres. Several agencies and 85 personnel have responded to the scene. The lead agency is El Dorado National Forest.

It is burning in heavy timber on steep terrain near Highway 50 between White Hall and Kyburz.

This is a developing story and will be updated as news is available.