Caples Fire spreads to the south

The escaped prescribed fire is 15 miles southwest of Lake Tahoe

Caples Fire 3-D map
3-D map showing the perimeter of the Caples Fire at 9:19 p.m. PDT Oct. 11, 2019 that was provided by the U.S. Forest Service.

The south side of the Caples Fire was active Friday and spread across the Silver Fork of the American River. According to information released by the U.S. Forest Service the fire was mapped at 2,666 acres Friday night. The north perimeter is fairly quiet, but the mapping flight found intense heat along sections of the south perimeter.

The fire is on the Eldorado National Forest 3 miles west of Kirkwood, California and 15 miles southwest of the south shore of Lake Tahoe. A Type 3 Incident Management Team has assumed command. Resources assigned include 6 Type 1 Hotshot crews, 8 Type 2IA hand crews, 3 helicopters, 20 engines, 3 dozers, and 3 water tenders for a total of 752 personnel.

The Caples Fire has not been listed on the National Interagency Coordination Center’s Incident Management Situation Report for the last two days. The estimated costs of suppressing the fire through October 11 is $250,000, according to the Incident Status Summary report.

The fire began as a project to burn debris piles and was classified as a prescribed fire. Personnel from the El Dorado National Forest, as described on the Forest’s Twitter account, conducted ignition operations on at least the following days: October 1, 5, 7, 8, and 9. (More details are in October 11 article) Strong winds that had been predicted for several days arrived on October 9 along with a Red Flag Warning. As the fire continued to spread beyond the intended objective for burning the piles, on Friday October 11 the Forest Service changed the status of the prescribed fire to a wildland fire.

Smoke from the fire can occasionally be seen on live cameras depending on the direction they are pointed. Check out the Leek Springs, Sierra at Tahoe, and Big Hill cameras.

Caples fire map
Map showing the perimeter of the Caples Fire at 9:19 p.m. PDT Oct. 11, 2019 that was provided by the U.S. Forest Service.

Prescribed fire escapes on Eldorado National Forest

The fire has burned over 2,000 acres 15 miles southwest of Lake Tahoe in Northern California

Caples prescribed fire October 7, 2019
Caples “prescribed fire”. Photo by Forest Supervisor Laurence Crabtree, published October 7, 2019.

I was first aware of the Caples  prescribed fire on the Eldorado National Forest when three tweets were published by the forest’s Twitter account on the afternoon of Monday October 7 saying, “Ignitions continue on Caples Prescribed Fire. More smoke is expected”. Photos taken from an aircraft by Forest Supervisor Laurence Crabtree also were Tweeted.

At that time there had  been news and discussions for several days in the wildland fire community about very strong winds and Red Flag Warnings that were due to hit California Wednesday October 9. Smoke from the prescribed fire was easily detected by a satellite October 7. It was a large amount of smoke to be generated by what was supposed to have been some burning debris piles.

The project began October 1 and involved disposing of debris piles by burning. Additional ignitions occurred on October 5 and 7.

The information below came from the @EldoradoNF Twitter account.

Tuesday, October 8:  A tweet from the National Forest said, “The goal of today’s burn operation is continue active ignitions to reach the end of the ridge and tie into a dozer line that extends to the 10N30 road before the wind event that is predicted for this evening. No additional ignitions are planned this week.” And later that day, “Ignitions on the Caples Prescribed Fire have been completed and crews will patrol and monitor the area over the next few days during the wind. No additional ignitions are planned this week. ”

Wednesday October 9: “Today’s goal is to finish active ignitions to tie into the 10N30 road before the wind event now predicted for Wednesday night. Ignitions were intended to be done yesterday but due to unfavorable wind conditions during the day shift the operation is continuing today.”  And later that day, “Personnel on the Caples Prescribed Burn continue ignitions down the western perimeter of the fire towards forest road 10N30. A total of 1,080 acres have been treated, exceeding today’s target.” And later, “Ignitions are complete on the western end of the Caples Burn. Crews will patrol and monitor the area over the next few days during the wind event predicted to start this evening. Smoke will continue to be visible as the fire consumes unburned fuels within the fire perimeter.” And later, “The scheduled PG&E Power Outage has resulted in the closure of Eldorado National Forest offices except Camino ECC. Fire and essential personnel continue to work, however, forest offices are not open and phones are not operational until power is restored.”

Thursday, October 10: No additional information except for a Community Meeting scheduled in Pollock Pines that evening. One of the six items on the agenda was, “Brief updates on Caples Prescribed Fire and PG&E Power Outage”.

Friday October 11: “The Caples prescribed burn declared a wildland fire on today at 1:30 pm. Fire managers made the decision due to unfavorable weather conditions and the inability to meet previously established objectives. Inciweb is down. We will update when it comes back up.”


Today, October 11, personnel from the Eldorado National Forest report that the fire has burned 2,143 acres. It is 3 miles west of Kirkwood and 15 miles southwest of the south shore of Lake Tahoe. Approximately 152 personnel and a Type 3 Incident Management Team has been assigned.

Here is a report from the Northern California Geographic Coordination Center, Friday morning October 11:

Extreme fire behavior with wind driven runs, torching and spotting has been observed. A Red Flag Warning is in effect until 1000 this morning for the fire area. There is a threat to structures on remote ranches in the area. Private timberlands, major municipal watershed, historical sites and critical wildlife habitat are also threatened. Smoke impacts to the Sacramento Valley and Lake Tahoe areas are possible. Road, trail and area closures are in effect in the fire area.

Caples Fire Map
Map showing heat on the Caples Fire detected by a satellite at 3:36 a.m. PDT October 11, 2019.

Caples Fire escaped prescribed fire information

Thanks and a tip of the hat go out to Fred. Typos or errors, report them HERE.