Tahoe residents mourn losses as firefighters gain ground

SOUTH LAKE TAHOE, Calif. – A measure of normalcy began to return to this resort community Thursday, even as crews battled an unpredictable mountain wildfire for a fifth day. Sunbathers ventured to some beaches, and the smoke lurking in the mountains largely cleared.

But it was a tale of two Tahoes. A few miles from the tourist belt, entire neighborhoods lay in ruin, eerily silent because residents remained officially barred from returning. Many urgently wanted to sift through the ash and grieve.

“Of course they want to see it. That’s what finalizes it – it’s like the funeral,” said Barbara Rebiskie, a U.S. Forest Service investigator who stood in an unincorporated community near Meyers, a few miles south of the lake.

A few people were so determined to return that they defied evacuation orders, returning repeatedly on bicycles, and were arrested for trespassing, said El Dorado Sheriff’s Deputy Phil Chovanec.

The amount of land burned held steady at 3,100 acres as of Thursday night, with the fire’s containment officially at 70 percent. A total of 254 homes had been destroyed and 3,500 people evacuated since the fire broke out Sunday, said Rich Hawkins, a Forest Service fire incident commander.

Among many firefighters, there was a sense of rising confidence that they were gaining the upper hand against a blaze that has hop-scotched and erupted erratically. “Demobilization” was the term of the afternoon, and about 500 firefighters were expected to leave today.

“Basically, I think the whole fire is in the mop-up stage,” said Dave Ingrum, chief of a strike team based in San Joaquin County. “I think it’s pretty obvious from the lack of smoke.”

Authorities had pinpointed the cause of the blaze but will not announce it until today, Hawkins said, adding that he believed it was accidental.