Many South Lake Tahoe residents are under evacuation orders while the rest are preparing to flee at a moment’s notice as the destructive Caldor Fire continues to bear down on the area after another active night.
The blaze has incinerated 177,260 acres of El Dorado Country, growing almost 10,000 more overnight as humidity recovery remained poor which allowed the wildfire to stay active, according to CAL FIRE’s Monday morning update.
New evacuations ordered Monday morning include the Tahoe Keys, Emerald Bay and the area around South Lake Tahoe High School.
"Over the evening we had quite a bit of activity up there on the northeastern edge of the fire along Highway 50 and up towards Twin Bridges on the north and south side of the Echo Summit," Diana Swart, public information officer at CALFIRE, told KCBS Radio. "The fire is really pushing that way, a little more east, and gave us a little bit more trouble yesterday with quick activity that happened."
The fire, which sparked on August 14 east of Omo Ranch and south of the community of Grizzly Flats, has destroyed 653 structures while it continues to threaten over 20,000 more.
A vicious Sunday for crews saw containment on the wildfire drop from 19% to 13%, before it ticked back to 14% as of Monday morning. The agency maintained they expect to fully handle the blaze by September 8.
The normally immaculate views of Tahoe have been smothered by the Caldor Fire. Crews were forced to use snow cannons to spray mist onto the buildings during the blaze. Resorts usually populated by skiers and snowboarders are instead filled with fire teams and equipment.
Firefighters face another dicey day on Monday, with gusty winds picking up across the region, prompting the National Weather Service to issue a Red Flag Warning in the Northern Sierra and Southern Cascades from 11 a.m. Monday through 11 p.m. Tuesday, notably where the Kirkwood and Sierra at Tahoe ski resorts are located.
Swart explained that even a light wind can make for hazardous conditions due to the terrain in the high country.
"It creates kind of like a tunnel, even if you have a very light wind all around you, if it pushes through those drainages it kind of picks up speed," she said. "Just a little bit of speed with just a flying ember in it will push a fire ahead of it. That’s what we’re dealing with with this fire. The vegetation out there is still very dry. We have not had the snowpack that we are used to and the trees are stressed."
Visitors were asked to avoid the Tahoe Basin, the normally popular Labor Day vacation spot, this upcoming holiday.
Swart warned that locals who remain in town should put their evacuation plans together now instead of later.
"You definitely need to plan ahead," Swart said. "Don’t wait. If warnings turn into orders, you should be already ready to go."
Updated evacuation information and a complete list of where orders have been issued can be found here.
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