Some areas in the Lake Tahoe basin are now under evacuation warnings for the first time due to the Caldor Fire.
Officials said earlier this week that evacuation orders in the area between Twin Bridges and Echo Summit could lead to warnings on the basin, and that's exactly what happened Thursday.
CAL FIRE first announced Thursday morning that residents in the Christmas Valley were now under evacuation warnings, just three days after the agency's director, Thom Porter, said the Caldor Fire was "knocking on the door" of the Lake Tahoe basin. That warning remained in effect Thursday night.
No warnings and orders were in place as of press time for the City of South Lake Tahoe, but the city issued a local emergency proclamation on Thursday afternoon.
The procolamation will allow state and federal officials to direct emergency resources to South Lake Tahoe.
The Caldor Fire burned 139,510 acres as of Thursday night, growing well past the size of Lake Tahoe itself in the process. The Caldor Fire was 12% contained as of CAL Fire's Thursday night update, having destroyed 650 structures while threatening another 18,347.
Areas around Lake Tahoe continued to experience the worst air quality in the U.S. on Thursday while the Caldor and Dixie fires still burned. South Lake Tahoe, for instance, had a reading of 432 on the U.S. Air Quality Index by Thursday afternoon, with a concentration of particulate matter 44 times above the World Health Organization's exposure recommendation.
When experiencing hazardous air quality, residents are advised to run an air purifier and close their windows and doors, as well as to wear a mask outdoors. Research on the long-term health effects of exposure to wildfire smoke is lacking, but the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency lists bronchitis, greater risk of exacerbating asthma and aggravating other lung diseases, heart failure, heart attacks and increased risk of emergency room visits and hospital admissions for respiratory and cardiovascular issues.
As of Wednesday, 23 people were hospitalized with COVID-19 within El Dorado County and three were in the ICU. A Harvard Study published this month linked 19,700 COVID-19 cases and 750 deaths to wildfire smoke in California, Oregon and Washington last year.
