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The Forest Service requested that crews hike to the fire and aircraft be brought in to support. The fire was reported to be 100 acres (40 ha). However, on July 16, gusty winds pushed the fire down slope. The earliest acreage evaluation the fire, provided during the week of July 5, was 37 acres (15 ha). The United States Forest Service fire crews struggled to access the rugged area, resulting in the Forest Service making the “tactical management decision not to insert fire crews to fight the fire due to safety concerns.” The fire was allowed to burn naturally assuming the sparse fuels and natural barriers in the fire area would limit the fire's growth. The fire was underway earlier in the morning, so it was thought to have started during lightning the night before. The CalFire incident shows a start of 11:57 a.m. The fire was started by a lightning strike with the incident origin listed as 4:00 p.m. The Tamarack Fire was first reported July 4 on a rocky ridgetop in the Mokelumne Wilderness, approximately seven miles southwest of Markleeville in Alpine County, California. At least twenty structures were damaged or destroyed.
In total, 2,439 people were evacuated and over 500 structures were threatened by the Tamarack Fire. The fire continued to grow, threatening numerous communities, including Markleeville and highways in the area, including State Highway 89, 88 and 395. High winds and dry fuels and conditions caused the fire the grow rapidly to 21,000 acres (8,498 ha) by July 17. However, on July 16, high winds caused the fire to move down the ridge. The fire was allowed to burn naturally due to concerns for fire crew safety in the rugged area and the lack of fuels and the natural barriers on the ridgetop that limited the fire's growth. The fire was first reported burning on a rocky ridgetop on July 4, 2021, a result of a lightning strike. The Tamarack Fire was a wildfire that burned 68,637 acres (27,776 ha), primarily in the Mokelumne Wilderness in Alpine County, California, Douglas County, Nevada and Lyon County, Nevada, as part of the 2021 California wildfire season.