More evacuations were ordered around the Tahoe Basin as the two-week-old Caldor Fire moved closer to Lake Tahoe. By nightfall, the Associated Press reported that all residents on the California side of the Lake Tahoe Basin were warned to evacuate.
A red flag warning was in effect across the Northern Sierra over the next two days, and low humidity and gusty winds were expected to create conditions for the fire to grow.
The evacuation order issued Sunday was extended to include the city of South Lake Tahoe after the fire grew “more aggressive than anticipated” and was roughly 10 miles from the lake’s basin, reports USA Today.
Jeff Marsoleis, the forest supervisor for El Dorado National Forest, said fire crews at first believed they could contain the fire’s eastern progress, but on Sunday, “it let loose.”
“Today’s been a rough day and there’s no bones about it,” he said.
“We’ve been seeing about a half-mile of movement on the fire’s perimeter each day for the last couple of weeks, and today, this has already moved at 2.5 miles on us,” said Cal Fire Division Chief Erich Schwab.
The Caldor Fire, which started on August 14, has reduced around 245 square miles to ashes, according to the Daily Beast. Schwab said, “To put it in perspective, we’ve been seeing about a half-mile of movement on the fire’s perimeter each day for the last couple of weeks, and today, this has already moved at 2.5 miles on us, with no sign that it’s starting to slow down.”
According to the National Interagency Fire Center, 85 large fires and complexes currently burning have scorched more than 3,900 square miles. California alone has 13 large fires burning.
