I SEE SMOKE is a citizen smoke-reporting tool built for the Tahoe/Truckee Wildland-Urban Interface. We maintain this guide because no single dashboard combines official feeds with on-the-ground reports — and during the first minutes of an ignition, both matter.

Fire-service partner? See how this feed is built to help CAL FIRE, USFS, and local districts →

Live incident tracking

Start here during an active fire. These are the same feeds CAL FIRE, the US Forest Service, and local IMTs use for situational awareness.

• CAL FIRE — Current Incidents

  Official, real-time list of active wildfires in California with acreage, containment, and evacuation status.

• ALERTCalifornia Camera Network

  UC San Diego camera network with hundreds of pan-tilt-zoom cameras across the Tahoe basin and Sierra crest, including AI smoke detection.

• InciWeb National Incident Information

  Interagency incident reports for federal lands around Lake Tahoe — Tahoe National Forest, Eldorado National Forest, and the Lake Tahoe Basin Management Unit.

• NIFC National Fire Map

  National Interagency Fire Center's situational-awareness map: perimeters, MODIS/VIIRS hotspots, smoke plumes, and red-flag warnings.

Evacuation zones & emergency alerts

Lake Tahoe spans five counties across two states. Know your zone before an incident — orders move fast in the WUI.

• Genasys Protect (formerly Zonehaven)

  Evacuation zone status for Placer, El Dorado, Nevada, and Washoe counties. Look up your address to see your zone ID and current order.

• Placer TahoeAlerts

  Placer County's emergency alert signup for North Lake Tahoe, Tahoe City, and Kings Beach. Register for evacuation warnings, fire alerts, and other local emergency notifications.

• El Dorado County Emergency Alerts

  El Dorado County's RAVE/Smart911 alert system for South Lake Tahoe and the surrounding Sierra communities.

• Nevada County Emergency Alerts

  Nevada County's CodeRED signup for Truckee, Nevada City, and the eastern Sierra corridor.

• Washoe County Regional Alerts

  Washoe County's Rave/Smart911 regional alerts for Reno, Sparks, and Incline Village on the Nevada side of Tahoe.

• Douglas County Reverse 911

  Douglas County's Reverse 911 signup for the Nevada-side Lake Tahoe communities including Stateline and Glenbrook.

Air quality & smoke

Smoke can blanket the basin from fires hundreds of miles away. These sensors give you ground truth at neighborhood resolution.

• AirNow Fire & Smoke Map

  EPA's combined PurpleAir + regulatory monitor map showing live PM2.5 and active smoke plume overlays for the Sierra.

• PurpleAir Tahoe Sensors

  Crowd-sourced PM2.5 sensors at 1-minute resolution across South Lake Tahoe, Truckee, Kings Beach, and Incline Village.

Preparedness & defensible space

The work that protects Tahoe homes happens in the months before fire season, not during it.

• Ready for Wildfire (CAL FIRE)

  Defensible space, Zone 0 hardening, evacuation checklists, and the Wildfire Preparedness Guide tailored to the WUI.

• Tahoe Living With Fire

  University of Nevada Extension's Sierra-specific homeowner guide — chipping days, defensible space inspections, and Firewise community signups.