2nd update 12/2/2025 - HCS - see below **
Update to The Fire God article from December 2015
On April 10, 2025 Tahoe Donner's Forestry Team presented a webinar about Tahoe Donner's Defensible Space. The webinar can be viewed at this link https://www.tahoedonner.com/members/land-forestry/land-management-forestry/defensible-space/ .
In December 2015, I researched and wrote a detailed article on the 1960 Donner Ridge Fire which burned 43,000 acres, available at this link https://www.truckeehistory.org/uploads/5/1/9/2/51923135/final_web_dec2015issue4_121815rfs.pdf, pp. 4-5, 7 and related Supplemental Content available at this link https://www.truckeehistory.org/supplemental-content-donner-ridge-fire-of-1960-article.html .
The Historical Society has also recently been able to get the early 1960s local newspaper Sierra Sun digitized and available online. One of the 1960 newspaper articles headline is this:
"LOCAL COMMUNITIES THREATENED BY 35,000 ACRE FIRE" in the August 25, 1960 Sierra Sun issue. The link is available at the internet archive at https://archive.org/details/catruhs_001227/mode/2up .
In the Tahoe Donner webinar, there were a number of unique photographs and a map which clearly show the extent of the 1960, 1979, 1994, 2003, and 2007 fires.
The photographs in the webinar represented (1) the "80" Fire and "Donner" fire scars; (2) the 2003 Donner Fire; and (3) the 2007 fire and the "Halo" fire breaks. The 2003 and 2007 fires started from Interstate 80 and burned uphill with the prevailing southwest winds towards Tahoe Donner - and neither fire happened on the more dangerous Red Flag Days.
Even though the webinar was presented for Tahoe Donner residents, make no mistake: fires can happen anywhere, anytime. Be vigilant in preparation, observation, and reporting.
Note: the map on p. 7 of the December 2015 article https://www.truckeehistory.org/uploads/5/1/9/2/51923135/final_web_dec2015issue4_121815rfs.pdf has gone AWOL, but you can still find the map at this link https://web.archive.org/web/20161227042954/http://cdfdata.fire.ca.gov/pub/fireplan/fpupload/fpppdf1024.pdf .
In December 2015, I researched and wrote a detailed article on the 1960 Donner Ridge Fire which burned 43,000 acres, available at this link https://www.truckeehistory.org/uploads/5/1/9/2/51923135/final_web_dec2015issue4_121815rfs.pdf, pp. 4-5, 7 and related Supplemental Content available at this link https://www.truckeehistory.org/supplemental-content-donner-ridge-fire-of-1960-article.html .
The Historical Society has also recently been able to get the early 1960s local newspaper Sierra Sun digitized and available online. One of the 1960 newspaper articles headline is this:
"LOCAL COMMUNITIES THREATENED BY 35,000 ACRE FIRE" in the August 25, 1960 Sierra Sun issue. The link is available at the internet archive at https://archive.org/details/catruhs_001227/mode/2up .
In the Tahoe Donner webinar, there were a number of unique photographs and a map which clearly show the extent of the 1960, 1979, 1994, 2003, and 2007 fires.
The photographs in the webinar represented (1) the "80" Fire and "Donner" fire scars; (2) the 2003 Donner Fire; and (3) the 2007 fire and the "Halo" fire breaks. The 2003 and 2007 fires started from Interstate 80 and burned uphill with the prevailing southwest winds towards Tahoe Donner - and neither fire happened on the more dangerous Red Flag Days.
Even though the webinar was presented for Tahoe Donner residents, make no mistake: fires can happen anywhere, anytime. Be vigilant in preparation, observation, and reporting.
Note: the map on p. 7 of the December 2015 article https://www.truckeehistory.org/uploads/5/1/9/2/51923135/final_web_dec2015issue4_121815rfs.pdf has gone AWOL, but you can still find the map at this link https://web.archive.org/web/20161227042954/http://cdfdata.fire.ca.gov/pub/fireplan/fpupload/fpppdf1024.pdf .
Photo 1, courtesy of Tahoe Donner Forestry
Photo 3, courtesy of Tahoe Donner Forestry
Editor: Heidi Sproat 5/5/2025
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Photo 2, courtesy of Tahoe Donner Forestry
Front page, Sierra Sun, August 25, 1960, available at this link https://archive.org/details/catruhs_001227/mode/2up, or at the California Revealed site, https://californiarevealed.org/do/1d6c7a44-fcd2-4097-b20e-69bf6482f5a5 .
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2nd update to Fire God article - 12/2/2025 HCS
With the California Revealed scanning project now threatened with catastrophic funding cuts starting in 2025, TDHS is always looking for alternative ways to PRESERVE our history so that future researchers can find relevant information. To that end, I came upon several Sierra Sun articles from August 2007 about the 2 fires mentioned above, both threatening the sprawling 6,000 unit Tahoe Donner subdivision. NEITHER of these articles is available online. TDHS really wants to see this scanning project through to its logical conclusion - scanning hard copies of Sierra Sun issues from 1971 forward until the date when COMPLETE copies of Sierra Sun issues were digitally available. To that end, and relative to this story about the Fire God, below are screenshots of these articles in the Sierra Sun about the August 2007 fires.
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