Smoke slowly being blown out of Tahoe

While the American Fire burning near Foresthill is at 78 percent containment, the Rim Fire near Yosemite is at 7 percent containment.

Both are continuing to bring smoke into the Lake Tahoe Basin, Truckee and western Nevada. Winds helped blow some of the smoke out of the basin on Saturday, but the smell remains this morning even though there is more blue sky compared to the last few days.

A dense smoke advisory from the National Weather Service in Reno remains in effect until 8pm Aug. 25 for the basin and points east, including parts of Alpine County. A lake wind advisory is in effect for the same time period

The American Fire has burned 24,135 acres. Crews are being released to go fight other fires as full containment is expected Sept. 1.

The Rim Fire is at 133,980 acres.

“The Rim incident is expected to continue to exhibit very large fire growth due to extremely dry fuels and inaccessible terrain. Rapid fire growth and extreme fire behavior are hampering suppression efforts,” fire officials said.

Nearly 5,000 structures remain threatened.

— Lake Tahoe News staff report