After burning for about two months, causing widespread evacuations and decimating the South Lake Tahoe area, the Caldor Fire officially reached 100% containment on Thursday, according to the fire’s incident page on inciweb site.
The fire burned a total of 221,835 acres after igniting on Aug. 14. In the weeks since, communities were forced to evacuate as the flames created inhospitable conditions. Residents of the area have since returned, but the effects of the fire will be felt for a long time to come, in tangible and intangible ways.
Now firefighters are focusing on repairing the areas impacted by the fire, including over 400 miles of constructed line.
"Repair efforts set the immediate stage for our resources and community to recovery from this devastating wildfire," said Jeff Knudson, the fire’s Incident Commander.
But that doesn't mean we're out of the woods yet. According to the incident page, "contained, controlled and out are three distinct phases."
In this case, that means that while the fire is contained, there are still areas that will continue to smoke and smolder, such as big trees and stumps.
When a fire is contained, a line circles it, it is essentially "contained" within that line. A controlled fire is when fire officials are positive that the fire will not escape from outside that line.
Even after containment and control, fires can remain for months, until the winter season brings rain and snow to dampen any smoldering remnants of the fire.
But sometimes even that is not enough, and embers can survive the winter months and resurface in the spring. In those cases, all it takes is for one ember to meet the right conditions to reignite.
Fire crews will continue to monitor the area as cleanup and repair begins. Starting Thursday, efforts to remove hazardous trees began on the N. South Road began.
Locals are advised to move about the affected areas with caution as burned trees and structures can be hazardous.
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