25 Years Later: Lessons Learned from the Martis Fire

25 Years Later: Lessons Learned from the Martis Fire

On the morning of June 17, 2001, Father’s Day, a campfire that wasn’t fully extinguished escaped and ignited one of the most dramatic wildfires in Truckee’s history. Driven by wind funneling down the canyon, low humidity, and critically dry fuels after a below-average snowpack season, the Martis Fire tore through the landscape and bore down on the small community of Floriston along the Truckee River. The numbers are still staggering to think abo…