Lightning-caused fires keep Tahoe Forest Service crews busy. Here's how they keep up.
NEVADA CITY — An uptick in lightning strikes across the Sierra has made it busy for fire crews in the last few days. Just Monday, the Tahoe National Forest Service reported eight fires from lighting alone.
Forest Service crews said many of the fires have been in remote areas making it hard for them to access.
"When they are pretty remote in the high country, there's not a lot of roads and we do have several roadless areas in Tahoe. You're really relying on aviation," said Eric Rice with the Forest Service's deputy fire management office.
Aviation is not new to the crew, but a new rappelling program has helped them in a big way this year.
"It would be extended travel, hard to get people into the fires and potentially a lot of long walks. Out of the eight fires, we've rappelled into four of them.
Rice said the last time they had the program was nearly 14 years ago. With the program in full swing this summer, they can get more people in and more fires out.
Yet, the weather can still make fires unpredictable.
"You get a lightning strike and, you know, say it doesn't come with rain or it's outside of that rain core, thunderstorms come with a downdraft wind so the winds can be extremely erratic at times," Rice said.
Luckily, he said, the lightning-caused fires they've seen lately have come with rain, but they still have to rely on several resources from the sky to the ground.
"In a lightning situation, if there's people in the backcountry camping or whatever and they see one, it's helpful for us for them to report it. We can't see them all," Rice said.
When active weather arrives, Rice said they do keep their lookout towers fully staffed. They also monitor Alert Wildlife cameras for any new hotspots.