“It went relatively smooth considering we had to evacuate thousands of people.” “It meant that the citizens were listening to the evacuation order,” added South Lake Tahoe Fire Department Chief Clive Savacool. Their response was fantastic and I appreciate them. “I’m so appreciative that our citizens listened to the warning and the order and evacuated the city. “It was a tense few moments, I think, for our citizens in South Lake Tahoe today,” said South Lake Tahoe Police Department Chief David Stevenson. “I figure if they for some reason don’t burn down, that’s a good day.”Īt a news conference Monday night, police and fire officials acknowledged the traffic jam, which lasted more than three hours. “I have two houses out in Meyers and they’re both” - he cut a finger across his throat. “I’m stressed out,” said Gator Vivas, 24, blasting Johnny Cash’s “Ring of Fire” as he waited in the gridlock. The unprecedented evacuations caused a 4-mile long traffic jam along eastbound Highway 50 as vehicles piled with families, dogs, suitcases and camping gear inched through traffic toward the Nevada border.
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30: A hot shot crew marches up Christmas Valley in Meyers, Calif., as the Caldor Fire makes its push over Echo Summit into the Tahoe basin late Monday, Aug.
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Bliss State Park, Rubicon Point, Sugar Pine State Park, Camp Richardson and Heavenly ski area. The area makes up about one-third of the famed alpine lake’s 72-mile shoreline, and includes some of its most beloved locations, visited by millions of people a year, including Emerald Bay, D.L. The fire’s aggressive behavior prompted fire commanders to order evacuations to the waterline along 25 miles of Lake Tahoe’s west and south shores from Tahoma to the California-Nevada border. Wednesday, forecasting winds of up to 35 miles an hour and low humidity levels. The National Weather Service issued a red flag warning for much of the central and Northern Sierra through 11 p.m. “Unfortunately, these factors contribute to the resistance to control that we’re seeing with the Caldor Fire.”Īnd there was little respite expected. “These terms are no longer appropriate given the clear trends associated with drought, a change in climate and unresilient forest stands,” Anthony said. Terms such as “anomaly,” “extreme” and “unprecedented” are no longer appropriate to describe the Caldor Fire and others like it that have burned throughout California in the past 10 to 20 years, said Chris Anthony, Cal Fire’s assistant deputy director of cooperate fire protection, training, safety and emergency medical services. The largest wildfire threat to the Lake Tahoe Basin in more than 100 years, the blaze has exploded out of control in part due to California’s drought conditions, the worst since 1976-77, which have left shrubs, trees and grasses at record dry levels.
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If it gets down into that part of the basin, it’s going to be intense. “But having that fire come over the top is going to test them. Tahoe is “more prepared than a lot of places in California,” said Scott Stephens, a professor of fire science at UC Berkeley, of firefighters in South Lake Tahoe.
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Another 20,000 structures remained at risk, authorities said. The fire had reached the Tahoe Basin, he said, but was “hung up” in the granite outcroppings and ridges around Lower Echo Lake and Lake Aloha in the Desolation Wilderness, about six miles southwest of South Lake Tahoe.Īlready, the blaze has destroyed 482 homes and 11 businesses and caused 5 injuries in rural communities along Highway 50 near Strawberry, Kyburz and Sierra-at-Tahoe ski area. The 186,568-acre fire, which began August 14 and was just 15% contained Monday, expanded by 20,000 acres overnight, Porter said, advancing as far as eight miles as winds picked up, humidity levels dropped and embers flew half a mile away. “The critical thing is to evacuate early.” “There is fire activity happening in California that we have never seen before,” said Cal Fire Chief Thom Porter. Evacuation warnings were extended later in the day to communities in neighboring Douglas County in Nevada, including Kingsbury and Round Hill Village. SOUTH LAKE TAHOE - A nightmare scenario that firefighters have worried about for years - a massive wildfire spreading uncontrollably into the forests around Lake Tahoe - drew closer to reality Monday as the Caldor Fire, whipped by drought and strong winds, advanced toward the iconic lake’s southern shoreline, with its narrow roads and densely wooded neighborhoods.īy mid-morning, emergency officials had ordered mandatory evacuations of 22,000 people in South Lake Tahoe, adding to the roughly 30,000 others who were already under evacuation orders in other parts of El Dorado County.