Wall Of Flames Roars Over Echo Summit; Exodus Leaves South Lake Tahoe Abandoned – CBS San Francisco
SOUTH LAKE TAHOE (CBS SF) – A wall of flames from the Caldor Fire roared over Echo Summit on Highway 50 Monday night, hurtling down the mountainside toward the Lake Tahoe Basin, where thousands of residents were forced to evacuate their homes in a mass escape that clogged the few roads out of the region.
Flames burned on either side of the winding slope of Highway 50 – a popular stretch of road for visitors traveling to Tahoe – on Highway 89 and Meyers. There were reports that the fire shifted to the south end of Meyers on Monday evening.
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Meanwhile, South Lake Tahoe – a community of nearly 22,000 people – has taken on the appearance of a ghost town. For hours, evacuees forced out of their homes had slowly escaped to safety. Among them was Mel Smothers, who got out of his vehicle and serenaded the drivers with his violin.
While traffic exiting South Lake Tahoe slowed to a crawl as thousands of residents fled the area – many said it took several hours to move just a mile or two – the streets were eerily quiet early Monday night and traffic-free.
KPIX reporter Katie Nielsen was there when firefighters were digging their last dig and trying to keep the Caldor fire from coming over the Echo Summit into the Tahoe Basin below when the wind continued to stir up just before 6 p.m. on Monday night and the Ignited flames.
That happens at the #EchoSummit on the #CaldorFiee. Winds try to blow the fire over the summit and down to the #TahoeBasin. Red Flag Winds are happening now. @KPIXtv pic.twitter.com/tvtdXap1HU
– Katie Nielsen (@KatieKPIX) August 31, 2021
Nielsen later reported from the mostly deserted streets of South Lake Tahoe when the fire broke out over the summit. The only people left were the residents who didn’t have cars to evacuate from the area. They were seen carrying backpacks and duffel bags with their belongings to the evacuation buses that would leave the area.
Evacuation centers have been established at the Douglas County Community Center at 1329 Waterloo Lane in Gardnerville, Nevada and the Truckee Veterans Hall at 10214 High Street in Truckee.
In the Sierra-at-Tahoe ski area, teams turned snowmaking machines into makeshift fire hoses. Authorities said the fire charred part of the land and surrounding trees, but firefighters were able to rescue all of the resort’s buildings and believe all of the chairlifts are still intact.
On Monday evening, the raging fire grew to more than 186,568 acres and was 15 percent contained. Three firefighters and two civilians were injured and a Galt police officer who was on his way to the police in the fire zone was killed in an accident.
At 11 a.m., the evacuation of the lower Lake Tahoe Basin was ordered. All residents have been instructed to exit the area east on Highway 50 toward Nevada.
Caldor Fire evacuation order for 8/30/21 at 11:00 a.m. pic.twitter.com/g1WxBKeWds
– CAL FIRE AEU (@CALFIREAEU) August 30, 2021
Caldor Fire Chief Thom Porter said at a briefing on the state’s forest fires that the Caldor Fire has grown more than 20,000 acres since Sunday and the fire may have spread in all directions.
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“Difficult road conditions, difficult to access. It burns in heavy wood, just very, very difficult conditions, ”said Porter. “We made progress sometimes. Last week I reported on how we effectively have an inversion that kind of curbs fire activity. But when the air clears, it’s like taking the lid off a pot of boiling water. Suddenly this cloud of heat and steam comes out, the same thing happens with a fire. It also sucks in oxygen from all directions, sets fires and punctures fires in all directions. That happened yesterday. “
Porter said after the flames hit Twin Bridges and the Sierra-at-Tahoe ski area, the fire was now in the Tahoe Basin with point fires in the Lower Echo Lake, Aloha Lake and Desolation Wilderness areas.
It was also the second time a forest fire has crossed one end of the Sierra to the other, another example of the state’s unprecedented forest fire situation.
“We haven’t had wildfires from one side of the sierras to the other,” said Porter. “We did that with the Dixie [Fire], now we have with the Caldor. Twice in our history and both happen this month. So we really need to be aware that there is fire activity in California that we have never seen before. “
Porter urged those in evacuation warning areas to consider early evacuation before issuing a mandatory evacuation order.
“Be ready now. Be ready now before there’s a warning, ”Porter said. “If there is a warning, you pack everything in the car and drive off, or you wait for the order and leave. Be ready now. “
The El Dorado County Sheriff’s Department had issued mandatory evacuation orders Monday morning for the west bank of Lake Tahoe from Emerald Bay to Tahoma on the Placer County line and then west to the border of the Desolation Wilderness.
The contract also included the residential and commercial park that leads to the intersection of Highway 50 and Lake Tahoe Boulevard – a popular junction to the casinos in Stateline – and the area east of the Pioneer Trail and south of the Heavenly Valley Resort Ski Area.
The evacuations came because the fire was advancing at frightening speed.
“We had gained over 25,000 acres,” said Tim Ernst, Cal Fire chief operations chief. “Yesterday it moved the fire about 8 1/2 miles east due to the change in weather.”
The fire made a run on Sunday from Strawberry on Highway 50 northeast to Echo Lake, where it burned Monday morning.
“A number of structures have been lost in this area,” said Ernst.
The task of containing the Caldor fire will not be easier for the fire department in the next few days. A red flag warning with hot temperatures, low humidity and strong winds applies to the region until Wednesday evening.
“Red Flag Warning now in effect and has been extended”
🕚 Now – Wednesday 11pm
📍 N. Sierra & S. Cascades
💨Bad wind & extremely dry
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Are you prepared for wildfire? Visit https://t.co/4PbDmtOuXj for tips on how to prepare. #CAwx #CAfire pic.twitter.com/X4UH8xntNw
– NWS Sacramento (@NWSSacramento) August 30, 2021
To date, the flames have destroyed 472 homes – many in the fire-ravaged community of Grizzly Flats – and threatened an additional 21,451 buildings. In the small communities that line Highway 50 – a major artery between Sacramento and South Lake Tahoe – over 24,000 residents have been evicted from their homes.
On Sunday night, residents of Myers, Fallen Leaf Lake, Kirkwood and Christmas Valley were told to vacate their homes immediately when shacks burned near Camp Sacramento. Flames threatened the Sierra-at-Tahoe ski area, where giant snowmaking machines were used to wet the terrain and 25 additional strike teams were sent into battle to prevent flames from roaring in South Lake Tahoe.
As a precaution, officers also used school buses and ambulances to evacuate Barton Memorial Hospital in South Lake Tahoe.
CALDOR FIRE:
“Today was a tough day,” said Jeff Marsolais, National Forest Supervisor of El Dorado, at a press conference on Sunday evening. “There are no bones. I think the team is doing an excellent job of staying ahead of a very developing fire … Today it let go. “
Erich Schwab, chief of Cal’s fire department, said the brightening of the sky on Sunday triggered rising pyrocumulus clouds that lashed the flames on the eastern edge of the massive flame.
“To put it in perspective, we’ve seen about half a mile of movement around the perimeter of the fire every day for the past few weeks, and today this has moved 2.5 miles with us with no sign of it so is starting to slow down, “he said at the press conference on Sunday evening.
And now a warning for gusty winds and bone-dry humidity should come into effect on Monday at 2 p.m.
The fire spread to the north side of Highway 50 and started on Ralston Ridge. The crews took defensive measures to protect the buildings south of the Sierra-at-Tahoe ski area, but night photos from the resort showed flames approaching the ski lifts.
Near Camp Sacramento, the fire burned several huts along Mt. Ralston Road on Sunday evening.
Firestorm near Camp Sacramento as fire crossed S-N Highway 50, causing significant property damage #CaldorFire pic.twitter.com/2YLvlbeAEW
– craig philpott (@CphilpottCraig) August 30, 2021
Tragic losses turn at least between Camp Sacramento and the Sierra Tahoe. Unknown E from there. #CaldorFire Hwy 50 looking north to east pic.twitter.com/8amM7NZ7cW
– craig philpott (@CphilpottCraig) August 30, 2021
Tahoe is an attractive vacation spot for Bay Area residents, especially with Labor Day weekend approaching, but South Lake Tahoe Fire Department chief Clive Savacool said if they’re in the area they must go.
“Tourists should be gone,” he said. “If someone is still here as a tourist, they have to pack and go. Everyone who doesn’t have to be in South Lake Tahoe has to get out now. “
Among the many other challenges faced by the 3,500 firefighters fighting the flames is terrain that creates its own wind.
“This fire is in an area with multiple deep, steep drains,” said Steve Volmer, a fire behavior analyst with Cal Fire. “We have a saying: ‘Where water flows, there is wind.’ So you can see all of the problem areas of the fire that we had problems in those deep, steep drains along Highway 50 … They (the winds) keep sending out point fires along Highway 50, down in Camp Creek and Slug Canyon. “
These spots are ignited 3/4 of a mile before the main fire.
Volmer said the flames were also fueled by the area’s fire history.
“Right now we have a lot of heavy, dead down material in this fire area,” he said. “The area has very little fire history dating back to 1940 and almost no recorded fire history prior to 1940. There are large numbers of extremely large diameter logs that are still on fire. They are still burning down and still producing all the smoke. “
The firefighters will also look at the weather conditions to warn of the red flag over the fire zone, which will develop early Monday and will extend into Tuesday.
Cal Fire meteorologist Jim Dudley said winds will reach up to 35 miles per hour at the upper elevations near Echo Summit.
“These will start Sunday night and increase the speeds on Monday and they will last through Monday night and Tuesday,” Dudley said of the winds.
Highway 50 is still closed from the Sly Park Road exit to the Highway 89 interchange in Meyers.
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The fire, which was first reported near the Grizzly Flats community on August 14, is unlikely to be fully contained until September 8. Officials said the cause is being investigated.
