Illegal Campfire Sparked Tahoe Blaze

Jul 01, 12:06 PM

Current Headlines: SOUTH LAKE TAHOE, Calif. -- Evacuated residents were returning to their burned-out streets Saturday after an inferno that destroyed more than 200 homes and charred 3,100 acres.

Investigators said the blaze was started by an illegal campfire and was mostly contained, and some firefighters were beginning to withdraw.

In eastern Utah, however, a fast-moving wildfire burning Friday overcame two men who were working in a hay field.

A 63-year-old man and his 43-year-old son were caught by the fire, said Louis Haynes, a spokesman for the Uintah Basin Interagency Fire Center.

Another man who was injured in the fire died overnight, Haynes said.

The fire started north of Neola, about 100 miles east of Salt Lake City, on Friday morning and had burned more than 14 square miles by the end of the day.

At least two communities were evacuated.

A U.S. Forest Service investigation found that the fire south of Lake Tahoe was built in a campfire-restricted area but said there was no evidence it was deliberately set to spark the devastating wildfire that has displaced about 3,500 people.

Donna Deaton, an investigator for the Forest Service, said Friday that the fire was built about a quarter-mile south of Seneca Pond, a popular recreation area south of Lake Tahoe. There were no suspects, she said.

Residents did not seem surprised by the news.

"Apparently kids hang out there," said Donna Barker, a 21-year resident of Tahoe Keys who evacuated Tuesday, although her home was spared. "I don't think people think. It's a sad reality."

Because of tinder-dry conditions due to a lack of snow over the winter, the Forest Service had banned all campfires, charcoal grills, smoking and fireworks throughout the Tahoe basin.

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