First flames, then fees: Tahoe evacuees report price gouging

By SAM METZ and SCOTT SONNER
Associated Press/Report for America

STATELINE, Nev. (AP) — Some Lake Tahoe residents who fled a raging wildfire burning toward the California-Nevada border have encountered an unexpected obstacle: price gouging. Evacuees this week reported rideshare companies offering trips from area ski resorts to the Reno, Nevada, airport at eight times the normal rate. A hotel on the Nevada side of the resort town hiked room rates to nearly $450 per night. California prohibits exorbitant price increases during emergencies. But a ban that Nevada lawmakers passed this year doesn’t take effect until October. Reports of price gouging have emerged routinely in disaster zones during hurricanes. And the practice won newfound attention during the pandemic, with at least a dozen statehouses addressing it last year.