Smoke from the Washington Fire obscures the sun, as seen from Topaz Lake Sunday afternoon |
The Washington Fire near Silver Peak |
Depending upon the wind direction, the fire could head towards the town of Markleeville in Alpine County, California, over Monitor Pass towards Topaz Lake on the California/Nevada border, or towards neighborhoods in Nevada along Highway 395 between the two. The most immediate concern was the town of Markleeville if the fire spread north, but with trees dry from drought and two days of high winds in the forecast, the fire could easily jump the East Carson River and head into Nevada.
Highway 89 over Monitor Pass |
The edge of the smoke plume over Topaz Lake |
The smoke as seen from Leviathan Mine Road |
Leviathan Mine Road departs Highway 395 at Simee Dimeh Summit and heads to Highway 89 on the west side of Monitor Pass, but it crossed directly under the dense, now tobacco-brown smoke. But the road entered into the smoke that showed the fire's path in the wind. Without better information on the fire's location and speed, it would not be wise to enter the area.
I captured some photos and video clips from a safe distance north of the smoke, then returned to Highway 395. Heading south from Simee Dimeh to Topaz Lake, the smoke had darkened to dark brown. It was so dark, vehicles had their headlights on.
The wind died down in the evening, so the spread of the fire slowed and the smoke less dense. As of Monday morning, the acreage of the fire hasn't been updated since yesterday afternoon, but the fire has been reported in Bagley Valley south of Highway 89 and Heenan Lake, so the fire has crossed the East Carson River. It has also been reported north of Highway 89, so it has also crossed the only paved roads between the original fire location and the neighborhoods along Highway 395. With another day of wind gusts up to 40 MPH in the forecast, we just have to hope for a wind direction which will not bring the fire too close to homes before the wind subsides and the firefighters can work on the advancing edges.
The +Pacific Crest Trail Association published this map earlier today showing the extent of the fire:
Current MODIS map of #WashingtonFire and #PacificCrestTrail near #EbbettsPass http://t.co/MhAivxy5S1 pic.twitter.com/8J722TBMl9
— Pacific Crest Trail (@PCTAssociation) June 22, 2015
I'll upload more photos to DripThat, a new app and community which facilitates the telling of stories through pictures, video and text. You can find the DripThat app in the Apple App Store http://bit.ly/1dhaequ (Android soon), and you can connect with me in the community to see more of my photos from my road trips: https://dripthat.This information is on behalf of dripthat.
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