The Lake Tahoe area is usually a year-round recreational paradise offering beaches, water sports, hiking, ski resorts and golfing. It prompted new evacuation orders and warnings Monday. The Dixie, the second-largest wildfire in state history at 1,215 square miles (3,147 square kilometers), was burning about 65 miles (105 kilometers) north of the Lake Tahoe-area blaze.

Only twice in California history have blazes burned from one side of the Sierra Nevada to the other, both this month, with the Caldor and Dixie fires, Porter said. Crews from Louisiana had to return to that state because of Hurricane Ida, he said. More than 15,000 firefighters were battling dozens of California blazes, including crews from Utah, Washington, Wisconsin and West Virginia, said Mark Ghilarducci, director of California’s Office of Emergency Services. “We do not take this decision lightly, but this is the best choice for public safety,” Regional Forester Jennifer Eberlien said. Forest Service announced Monday that all national forests in California would be closed until Sept. The threat of fire is so widespread that the U.S.

Outside, evacuees who had stayed in tents sorted through ramen noodles and plastic bags of clothes and keepsakes. He noted that ash was falling on his jacket.Īt the senior center in Gardnerville, people had their temperature checked and answered questions about the coronavirus before entering a gymnasium of cots set up by the Red Cross. Steve Sisolak on Monday declared a state of emergency, citing the high risk that the California fire would burn into his state.Īt a news conference Tuesday in Carson City, which is about 20 miles (32 kilometers) from the fire, he said there was no timeline for when evacuations might be ordered. The National Weather Service warned of critical fire weather conditions through Wednesday due to strong gusts, very low humidity and extremely dry fuel.Īs flames advanced toward South Lake Tahoe, residents just over the state line in Nevada faced evacuation warnings. But since then, nearly two dozen helicopters and three air tankers dumped thousands of gallons of water and retardant on the fire, fire spokesman Dominic Polito said Tuesday. Thick smoke prevented air firefighting operations periodically last week. More firefighters arrived just after dark Monday, and many were dispatched to protect homes in the Christmas Valley area, about 10 miles (16 kilometers) from the city of South Lake Tahoe. Pushed by strong winds, the Caldor Fire crossed two major highways and burned mountain cabins as it swept down slopes into the Tahoe Basin. She and her mini Australian shepherd, Koda, took a 20-mile (32-kilometer) taxi ride from her South Lake Tahoe apartment to a hotel in Minden, Nevada. She put on headphones, turned on the Grateful Dead’s “Fire on the Mountain” and walked home to an empty apartment complex already vacated by neighbors. It’s time to go,’” she said Tuesday from the Douglas County Community & Senior Center in Gardnerville, Nevada. “I had to tell myself: ’OK, Lorie: Get it together. The motel parking lots that line the town’s main artery were empty.Īt an evacuation center in Nevada, Lorie Major said she had packed a bag in preparation to leave and was at the grocery store when she got the alert on her phone. The streets of the popular vacation hot spot, normally filled with thousands of summer tourists, were all but deserted after rapid growth of the Caldor Fire forced a mass evacuation of South Lake Tahoe on Monday and triggered hours of gridlocked traffic. A huge firefighting force gathered Tuesday to defend Lake Tahoe from a raging wildfire that forced the evacuation of California communities on the south end of the alpine resort and put others across the state line in Nevada on notice to be ready to flee.

South lake tahoe fire photos