The city’s emergency declaration comes after evacuation orders were issued to Echo Summit and warnings were extended for the first time to portions of the Tahoe Basin, including Christmas Valley, which is just south of the city of South Lake Tahoe. “At this time, we are prepared should an evacuation become necessary, but the firefighters on the front lines are doing incredible work to secure the perimeter of the fire and our hope is that they are able to prevent the fire from encroaching any further into the Tahoe Basin,” city spokesperson Lindsey Baker told CNN. While the city’s emergency proclamation does not include evacuation orders, it does leverage state and federal resources to direct immediate disaster relief funds and waive certain rules for greater flexibility, the city government said in a news release posted on Facebook. “With red flag conditions possible over the coming days, the Caldor Fire could spread rapidly into more populated communities and significantly broader areas,” the Governor’s Office of Emergency Services said in a statement, adding that communities up to and including South Lake Tahoe may have to evacuate. The city of South Lake Tahoe declared an emergency Thursday as accelerating winds pushed the Caldor Fire closer to the popular tourist destination. “We’re starting to gain ground on this fire and it’s making a difference,” he added. “We have been very fortunate in the past couple of days where we’ve seen a huge influx of resources into the Caldor Fire and as our operations talked about, we’re starting to see the fruits of those labors.” “We get the first opportunity for additional resources that become available,” Cal Fire Incident Commander Dusty Martin said in a briefing Wednesday night. The fire, burning in El Dorado and Amador Counties, is the state’s number one priority, officials say. Meanwhile, the Caldor Fire has scorched 136,643 acres since it began August 14 and was 12% contained Thursday morning, according to Cal Fire. These 7 states are under air quality alerts as wildfires rage in the West Lake Tahoe's Emerald Bay is shrouded in smoke from the Caldor Fire, near South Lake Tahoe, California, on Tuesday, August. Firefighters are experiencing conditions never seen before, such as increased spread rates, spotting and active nighttime burning.”Īnother wildfire burning in Northern California’s Trinity National Forest is the Monument Fire, which has burned 157,287 acres and is 20% contained. Fuel conditions are much worse than previous years and along with wind is causing much greater fire spread. “Under these drought conditions, wildfires are burning rapidly with extreme severity and have traveled up to 8 miles in a single day. “Fires burning in Northern California are exhibiting extreme fire growth based on critical fuel conditions,” Cal Fire said in an incident update on Thursday. The blaze is threatening more than 11,800 structures and has prompted evacuation orders and warnings in Plumas, Lassen, Butte, Tehama and Shasta counties. Hundreds of California residents are under evacuation orders after new fires were sparked Wednesday, with another heat wave expected to make fighting the flames even more challenging.Ĭalifornia is already battling the massive Dixie Fire, the state’s second-largest fire and 14th most destructive on record, which has now grown to more than 747,000 acres and remains 45% contained.
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