Live Updates: Caldor Fire burns close to South Lake Tahoe, evacuations ordered in Nevada

Read the latest updates >> Caldor Fire now near Kirkwood; Tahoe tourism agencies discourage visits

The Caldor Fire pushed deeper into the Lake Tahoe basin Tuesday, as thousands of firefighters worked to protect structures and struggle for control of the two-week-old mega-fire.

After breaching Echo Summit late Monday and forcing the evacuation of South Lake Tahoe, the fire continued to grow, aided by strong winds and dry conditions. Late Tuesday afternoon, officials ordered the evacuation of parts of Douglas County, Nev., along the east shore of the lake. The order didn’t include the casinos in Stateline, which are being used as command centers.

Back in California, new evacuation orders were issued for parts of Alpine County.

Late Tuesday officials said the fire had grown to 199,632 acres, with 18% containment. Overall growth of the fire was modest.

As the fire continued to threaten nearly 34,000 homes and other buildings in California, firefighting crews mounted a major bulldozer operation in residential areas around Heavenly ski resort, near the California-Nevada border, in an effort to carve out a makeshift fuel break and slow the fire’s progress.

The fight to save the basin’s largest city came a day after South Lake Tahoe was evacuated. The city remained virtually deserted after law enforcement ordered all residents to evacuate Monday morning. Not long after the city emptied out, the fire jumped Highway 89 late Monday near Christmas Valley, threatening a cluster of homes and cabins between highways 50 and 89 just east of the summit and about two miles south of Meyers.

“I don’t want any single structure to be impacted,” said Eric Schwab, operations section chief with Cal Fire, noting the intense fight to keep homes from burning in Christmas Valley.

While most of the focus was on saving the Tahoe basin, Cal Fire officials said Tuesday evening they were continuing to deal with flareups all along the Highway 50 corridor, as far west as Ice House Road — just a few miles from where the fire started. In the Ice House and Kyburz areas, “the winds are super-swirly,” said Schwab.

Schwab said the fire did escape a containment line in the Desolation Wilderness and was “making a run towards Wrights Lake,” a camping area southwest of Tahoe.

All throughout the area, firefighters were bedeviled by humidity levels that reached as low as 8%. “Lots of very dry air, lots of wind,” said incident meteorologist Jim Dudley.

Operations underway near Heavenly ski resort

Crews were mounting a major bulldozer operation Tuesday afternoon around the subdivisions adjacent to Heavenly Mountain Resort.

The goal, one firefighter said, was to get it carved out ahead of the significant spotting that’s happening from the main fire line about 2 miles from the High Meadow Trailhead. Winds are ripping in the forest, he said.

At Heavenly, the ski resort has used snow blowers to shoot water onto ski runs and trees in anticipation of the fire reaching into that part of Tahoe, the same technique that Sierra-at-Tahoe used on its lodge several miles to the southwest.

Newsom: Caldor Fire top priority in California

California Gov. Gavin Newsom called the Caldor Fire the state’s “No. 1 priority.”

“All I can say is we’re doing everything in our power to have your back,” Newsom said during a Tuesday news conference.

Newsom on Monday expanded a state of emergency proclaimed earlier in August for El Dorado County to include Alpine, Amador and Placer counties due to the growing wildfire.

“It is imperative that residents in the impacted areas stay safe and prepare to evacuate immediately if called for by local authorities,” Newsom said in a statement.

The governor plans to visit the fire zone Wednesday, he said.

Crews protect homes in Christmas Valley

The fire that erupted along the east side of Highway 89 Monday night reached within yards of some homes in Christmas Valley, but did not appear to have destroyed any.

Crews were working early Tuesday to put out spot fires burning on the hills near the holiday-themed community, where streets have names like Snowflake Drive. Larger fires were still burning in the hills on the west side of Highway 89 where the Caldor fire burned over Echo Summit Monday night.

Along Santa Claus Drive, crews that worked through the night appeared to have held back the fire that torched trees and crept down the hill toward homes. Chainsaws echoed in the hills Tuesday morning, while water dripped from second-level decks, courtesy of sprinklers left atop a roof.

On the other side of Highway 89, along South Upper Truckee Road, fire crews from across the Sacramento area stood guard around wooden cabins. They monitored debris pile burns as light winds fanned the flames away from the structures.

In nearby Meyers, Joey Anderson was hoping to celebrate his 66th birthday Wednesday in his home of 40 years, but the odds seemed iffy.

Anderson’s home sits about half a mile from where flames burned down toward Christmas Valley Monday night, and firefighters paid him a visit Tuesday around 11 a.m. to tell him they were setting a backfire to protect his home and others.

“What made me nervous was lighting it 200 feet from my house,” said Anderson, who spent 35 years as a firefighter.

Anderson said the flames shot 40 feet into the air, torching trees in the forested area and coming close to one other home.

“It was intense, I mean, even with my background of being a fireman for so many years I was ready to go,” Anderson said.

Firefighters had also bulldozed a containment line beside his house Monday night and left him active fire hoses he could use if the Caldor Fire got close.

He already had a sprinkler on the wood shake portion of his house, and another in the side yard.

But he still was worried about the nature of the blaze, which he said was ferocious in its behavior.

“It’s absolutely insane, it’s crazy,” he said. “I mean, a little brush fire starting down at Somerset or Grizzly Flats or wherever it did.

“And it turned into the magnitude of this thing? It’s not looking good, is it?”

Anderson had declined so far to evacuate, but said he wouldn’t hesitate to leave with his 10-year-old Husky mix, Echo, if need be.

“I’m staying until there’s no saving it,” he said. “They probably think I’m crazy, but I’m not going to be here if it gets real bad.”

Red flag warning extended due to windy weather

The National Weather Service issued a red flag warning due to critical wildfire weather conditions, originally set to last from Monday morning through Tuesday night. It was then shifted and extended to last from Monday afternoon through 11 p.m. Wednesday.

Forecasters warn that southwesterly gusts — pushing the Caldor Fire in the direction of the Lake Tahoe Basin — could reach about 30 mph near South Lake Tahoe on Tuesday.

Dudley, the meteorologist, said Tuesday evening that “we’ll see some slight improvement” Wednesday and conditions should clear up considerably Thursday.

“Things look better come Thursday,” he said.

Fire burns near Echo Lake, but most cabins untouched

Flames Monday night appeared to burn parts of the Echo Lake area, where many cabins are situated, on the north side of Highway 50.

But the cabins seemed to survive the flames as of Tuesday morning. Some still had their canvas pop-ups, umbrellas and deck chairs intact.

Firefighters used the wind-whipped lake to refill their engine tanks with water to put out spot fires throughout the area.

On the south side of the highway further to the west, Camp Sacramento remained untouched. Firefighters fought a pitched battle Sunday night to defend the 61-cabin summer retreat area owned by the city of Sacramento.

And although the fire ripped through the area again Monday, there appeared to be no new damage. Even a cart full of basketballs and footballs remained in place, as did a volleyball net.

Also untouched by the fire Monday was the Sierra-at-Tahoe ski area, as well as the Adventure Mountain sledding area that is also home to a Pacific Crest Trail trailhead.

Lines holding well near Pollock Pines

Containment lines on the west side of the fire, near Pollock Pines, are “holding really well for us,” said Tim Ernst, a Cal Fire operations section chief for the Caldor Fire, in a Tuesday morning video briefing. Crews continue to patrol those western zones of the fire for hot spots.

But as winds on the east side of the fire near Tahoe breezed in as fast as 40 mph, with gusts up to 50 mph, Ernst said the fire spotted as far as a mile ahead of itself Monday night.

“That’s an extremely challenging fire environment for firefighters to deal with,” Ernst said. Concerns continue as red-flag wind gusts are forecast to last at least through Wednesday night.

Ernst said the fire established itself “well into” the Lake Tahoe basin after jumping Highway 89. Firefighters worked through the night on structure protection efforts. One challenge is the increasing number of structures to protect as the fire advances from the summit down into the basin, closer to populated areas like South Lake Tahoe.

Despite growth in acreage, “we still celebrate a number of victories” in protecting structures, including homes, Ernst said.

Evacuation orders reach Nevada

More than 52,000 residents of El Dorado County are now evacuated, according to the Governor’s Office of Emergency Services, with mandatory orders stretching from the Pollock Pines area to the California-Nevada state line — essentially, the entire eastern half of the county.

Mandatory evacuation orders were issued Monday morning for the entire city of South Lake Tahoe and all of the Lake Tahoe Basin within El Dorado County lines, as well as communities along the west shore including Emerald Bay, Meeks Bay and Tahoma.

Orders also extended into Amador and Alpine counties on the south side of the fire. Orders have not been issued in Placer County, north of El Dorado.

Evacuation orders reached into into Nevada for the first time, with residents of several communities in Douglas County told to leave, including Kingsbury and Lake Village.

Evacuation centers have been established at the Truckee Veterans Hall, the Carson City Community Center and Carson High School in Carson City. A shelter at the Douglas County Community Center in Gardnerville, Nevada, was at capacity Monday evening.

Emergency operations team among evacuees

Among those the Caldor Fire forced from South Lake Tahoe: the city’s entire emergency operations team.

They didn’t go far. The local officials who manage emergencies and monitor the fire’s advance day and night hopped the border and are holed up in a conference room at Harrah’s Lake Tahoe in Nevada, Lindsey Baker, a city public information officer, told The Bee on Tuesday.

“It happened very quickly, all yesterday morning,” she said.

The emergency operations center had been set up at the city’s airport, near Meyers, since Aug. 21, she said. On Sunday night, though, conditions on the ground suggested the city could be at risk, prompting officials to issue an evacuation warning.

That was upgraded to an order Monday morning.

“When you’re in an emergency situation, you throw all expectations out the window,” Baker said. “You know what would be nice to have, what would be nice to do. And then there’s the reality on the ground.”

Despite slow going Monday afternoon, almost the entire city was cleared out in five hours. By Tuesday morning, local law enforcement officers who went door to door reported only 20 people had stayed behind, Baker said.

“It was something tremendous to see and hopefully a once-in-a-lifetime experience,” Baker said.

Fire near 200,000 acres, burning in steep terrain

The fire ignited in mid-August near the community of Grizzly Flats, south of Pollock Pines. The blaze largely destroyed the town, destroying hundreds of homes, an elementary school, a post office, a church and other structures. At least two civilians were also airlifted to hospitals from Grizzly Flats with serious injuries.

After an explosive start, which prompted mandatory evacuations for the areas of Pollock Pines, Sly Park and Kyburz, the Caldor Fire has crept steadily along Highway 50 for the past two weeks.

Fire officials say the fire is burning in steep terrain with critically dry conditions, and that embers from the fire are creating spot fires ahead of the main fire, sometimes a mile ahead.

The fire started to flare in activity Sunday, when an inversion layer created by the fire’s smoke cleared out, according to Thom Porter, director of Cal Fire.

“When air clears, it’s taking the lid off your pot of boiling water; all of a sudden there’s that plume of heat and steam that comes out,” Porter said during a briefing Monday. “Same thing happens on a fire. Also sucks in oxygen from all directions, puts fire and spot fires in all directions. That’s what happened yesterday.”

About 3,900 fire personnel are assigned to the Caldor Fire, according to Cal Fire.

Barton hospital evacuated, services relocated

All patients were safely evacuated from Barton Memorial Hospital in South Lake Tahoe.

Barton began evacuating patients Sunday night, about 12 hours before law enforcement upgraded the evacuation from a warning to an order.

“All patients have been transferred to regional partner facilities and their families have been notified,” Barton Health said in an update to its website.

The hospital’s emergency department moved its services to the Lake Tahoe Surgery Center in Zephyr Cove, Nevada. Barton Urgent Care, in Stateline, Nevada, remains open.

Barton Memorial has 63 patient beds and a skilled nursing facility with 48 resident beds.

Stanislaus firefighter badly injured

A firefighter from West Stanislaus Fire deployed to assist with the Caldor Fire was severely burned over the weekend, and is expected to be hospitalized for at least a month.

Richard Gerety III of Patterson suffered the injury while assigned to the northeast side of the fire, near Tahoe, said his wife, Jennifer Gerety. He has burns on about 20% of his body.

“He’s in very good spirits but in a lot of pain,” Jennifer Gerety told The Modesto Bee in a phone interview Monday.

Another first responder, Officer Harminder Grewal of the Galt Police Department, was killed in a head-on vehicle collision on Highway 99 near Galt as he and a partner were driving to assist with Caldor Fire response.

This story was originally published August 31, 2021 at 7:31 AM with the headline "Live Updates: Caldor Fire burns close to South Lake Tahoe, evacuations ordered in Nevada."

Michael McGough

The Sacramento Bee

916-326-5508

Michael McGough is a sports and local editor for The Sacramento Bee. He previously covered breaking news and COVID-19 for The Bee, which he joined in 2016. He is a Sacramento native and graduate of Sacramento State.