Tuesday Update: Royal Fire burning southwest of Truckee, 0 percent containment, 200 acres
Submitted by Jeff Munson on Mon, 07/08/2024 - 11:20am
As of Tuesday morning, the Royal Fire is 200 acres in size, with zero containment, according to Tahoe National Forest in a news briefing. The cause remains under investigation.
The Royal Fire did not experience significant growth overnight, according to the Forest Service. Reported acreage is due to more accurate mapping. There has been little progress on containment due to extremely steep and difficult to access terrain. The fire is currently boxed in with retardant. Significant aerial resources continue to monitor and attack the incident. Ground crews continue to work on building hand line and dozer line around the fire, according to the Forest Service.
The fire is active with crews reporting short-range spotting, tree crowning and short uphill runs. High-pressure and extreme heat is expected over the fire area for the next several days. Low humidity and dry fuels are contributing to resistance of containment measures.
The Tahoe National Forest has issued a closure for the fire footprint and surrounding fire area for the safety of the public and firefighter personnel.
Current resources assigned to the Royal Fire include: 1 Type 2 helicopter, 6 Type 1 helicopters including 2 Type 1 night-flying water dropper, 2 night-flying capable UAS (drones), 1 Type 3 hoist-capable helicopter, 24 crews, 16 engines, 5 dozers and several support staff (overhead).
Closures
• Tahoe National Forest has issued a fire area closure order. Read order here.
• The Royal Fire Closure Area boundary begins at the intersection of Serene Road and Soda Springs Road (County Road 6001). The boundary follows the Soda Springs Road south and then west and south to the junction of Mosquito Ridge Road (Forest Road 96). The boundary then continues northwest for approximately 5 miles until it reaches the western terminus of the Long Valley Trail (Forest Trail 14E29).
The boundary then travels along the Long Valley Trail east to the intersection of Long Valley and Palisades Creek Trail (Forest Trail 14E14) and then continues north along the Palisades Creek Trail to the intersection with Kidd Lakes Road (County Road 9146). The boundary then travels southeast from the Palisades Creek Trailhead for approximately 3 miles back to the starting point at Serene Road and Soda Springs Road.
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The Royal Fire in Placer County 12 miles southwest of Truckee has now burned 168 acres of timber in the area of the North Fork of the American River at Royal Gorge. It is burning in the Tahoe National Forest 12 miles southwest of Truckee and has no containment lines at this time.
There was an overnight search for 13 missing hikers ages 16-20 within the fire zone. The Placer County Sheriff's Office Search and Rescue and helicopter were searching for them, and at 7:30 a.m. Monday morning, the helicopter located them. Search and rescue crews are being inserted into the forest to hike out with them.
Cal Fire NEU reports active fire behavior overnight.
An Evacuation Warning remains in place by Placer County Sheriff's Office for the eastern side of the fire. The evacuation map can be viewed at https://pcsogis.maps.arcgis.com/.../webappv.../index.html...
The first map below depicts the recent perimeter of the fire, as mapped during infrared overflights last night.
The Royal Fire was reported Sunday afternoon in the Tahoe National Forest and is currently growing at a moderate to rapid rate. Named the Royal Fire since it is in the Royal Gorge area, west of Lake Tahoe.
The fire was reported by hikers who found a fire had escaped an illegal campfire. The Tahoe National Forest is under fire restrictions and campfires are only allowed in developed recreation sites.
The Placer County Sheriff’s Office is in unified command with the U.S. Forest Service-Tahoe National Forest and monitoring this closely.
We will update when more information becomes available.
