With winds finally in their favor, crews fighting the Caldor Fire in California that was raging within miles of Lake Tahoe were expecting better weather conditions after days of fierce wind gusts intensified the massive blaze.
Lighter winds are forecast for Thursday and Friday, Incident Meteorologist Jim Dudley said. “The issues and conditions that weather was causing, especially for the last couple of days, are going to be mitigated by much lighter winds across the fire,” he said.
But officials warned that dry conditions and low humidity mean homes in the California-Nevada alpine region are still in danger as the fire burns through trees and grasslands.
“We’re battling what we can battle and waiting for those winds to subside,” said Stephen Vollmer, a fire behavior analyst for the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection.
The Caldor Fire, which has forced an unprecedented evacuation of all 22,000 residents of South Lake Tahoe and tens of thousands of tourists, has burned for almost three weeks, scorching hundreds of homes and vacation rentals along its trek toward Nevada’s border. The fire was 23% contained as of Wednesday evening and had surged to 207,931 acres, according to Cal Fire.
At Tahoe’s Heavenly Mountain Resort, firefighters doused buildings using snow-making devices. Crews tried to steer flames away from urban areas. And thick smoke blanketed South Lake Tahoe, where at least 33,000 structures are still threatened. Meanwhile, casinos and stores began to close Wednesday morning in Nevada as the blaze approached.
President Joe Biden issued a federal emergency declaration Wednesday ordering federal assistance to supplement the more than 15,000 firefighters and additional out-of-state crews battling 15 active fires in California, including the monstrous, weeks-old Dixie Fire about 65 miles north of the Caldor Fire. The second-largest wildfire in state history, the Dixie Fire was 52% contained at 847,308 acres as of early Thursday morning, according to Cal Fire.
The Dixie Fire may have also drawn resources away from the Caldor Fire in its early days, preventing already stretched-thin fire crews from containing the Lake Tahoe-area fire before it ballooned in size.
“I do think the Dixie and the way that it’s burned and its magnitude did impact the early response to the Caldor,” said Scott Stephens, a professor of wildland fire science at the University of California, Berkeley. “It really drew resources down so much that the Caldor got very few for the first couple days.”
While 6,550 firefighters battled the Dixie Fire, about 240 headed to Lake Tahoe in the first few days of the Caldor Fire. Days later, additional fire engines and firefighters were diverted to the second blaze, tripling its resources, but only after the fire had already destroyed dozens of homes.
Climate change and intense heat have fueled a dangerous and intense fire season this year.
“We are moving resources around as needed, sharing among the incidents,” Cal Fire Chief Thom Porter told reporters on Aug. 18, acknowledging crews were “having a very difficult time” because resources were so stretched.
Contributing: The Associated Press
Contact News Now Reporter Christine Fernando at cfernando@usatoday.com or follow her on Twitter at @christinetfern.
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