Fire evacuates our ski lake

Our little lake was evacuated yesterday due to fire.  It is still burning today but they have large crews working to put it out.  It showed on the news that the evacuation order came in and everyone was ordered to leave the boats floating on the lake and evacuate.  They had no time to load the boats and try to take equipment with them.   The lake has a 3-4 mile road that goes straight uphill and it is single lane so evacuation could be very dangerous in a fire.   It takes about 10-15 minutes to wind up out of the canyon on that winding road with zero traffic.   I understand they were just tying boats together and letting them float in the lake to evacuate faster.  With a small boat ramp it would have taken 5-6 hours to get all the boats off the lake so I understand having to leave them behind but man that must hurt to leave it behind.   So far I have not heard if the Lake area has burned but the fire is very close and the wind blows up that canyon every day from about 10:30 AM till 5 pm so it is touch and go.   I have been skiing and camping on this lake for 45 years so this is a bummer to our family and many others.  Lets hope some serious rain comes soon.  

My boat and family are all fine, we left about a week and a half ago from this spot.  Hoping it will survive so we may play again one of these days.  Most our lakes are dam controlled and empty right now.  Major Draught in California.

Wishing you all best ahead!!

This fire was actually controlled in only 3 days unlike the other current fires that burned several days before a serious fight was started. The evacuation order was lifted today so there is probably a mad scramble to get up there and recover boats and camping gear.   Years ago the electric company and core of engineers built several small dams on the American Rivers to generate electricity.  They also function as silt dams to catch the silt washing down from the mountains with the snow melt each year.  In my 45 years using this lake it has shrunk each year, we used to have maybe 4 miles of good ski water, we are down to about 2.5 miles now.  They will close it to motorboats soon I am afraid.   Being a silt dam it does offer sand beaches in an area that only normally has dirt and rock shores.  Reservations are already about impossible to get so our old small group does not advertise the name but it is easy to figure out.  These silt dams or spillway dams are the only lakes with water near me.  For the first time in many days I have clear blue sky, some days the smoke has been like thick fog and smelled like a super strong camp fire and I am at least 40 miles away.