San Francisco Chronicle - (Sunday)
South Lake Tahoe plans for Caldor Fire evacuation
STRAWBERRY, El Dorado County — Hoping to take advantage of calm weather, crews worked to slow the Caldor Fire’s spread on its east and west fronts Saturday and protect communities on the approach to Lake Tahoe.
The huge wildfire in the Sierra foothills southeast of Placerville remained just 19% contained as of Saturday evening. The 2-week-old blaze has consumed 152,545 acres of El Dorado County, destroyed 652 structures and injured four people.
The Caldor Fire continues to burn in a wide swath between Highways 50 and 88, west of the South Lake Tahoe area. Highway 50, the main route between the Bay Area and South Lake Tahoe, remains closed between Sly Park Road and Meyers.
Officials poured “a ton of resources” into structure protection on the west side of the fire, said Jason Hunter, a spokesperson for the effort to contain the blaze. On Saturday afternoon, a crew from Cal Fire and the U.S. Forest Service lit a controlled backfire near Pleasant Valley, south of Pollock Pines, hoping to prevent the fire from advancing toward Somerset.
On the east side of the fire, closest to Lake Tahoe’s south shore, flames burned on both sides of Highway 50 in the Strawberry area. When a spot fire flared up on the slope behind Strawberry Station General Store, crews intentionally set a backfire to protect the structure. Though it led to several large flames, with burning trees towering over the store’s red roof, the intentional blaze appeared to have done its job by nighttime.
As dusk faded to dark, flames could also be seen on the forested hillside opposite the general store, on the south side of Highway 50. As of 7:45 p.m., the flames were burning uphill from Strawberry Lane, where firefighters were stationed to protect structures and, hopefully, prevent the fire from reaching the historic Strawberry Lodge.
But both Hunter and South Lake Tahoe Mayor Tamara Wallace think the Tahoe Basin will probably be spared from the Caldor Fire.
“There’s a lot of granite between where the fire is and where we are,” Wallace said. “It’s not impossible that the fire could get to us, but it is unlikely.”
Still, Wallace said local officials were preparing in case the Caldor Fire makes a run toward the city of about 22,000 people. If need be, South Lake Tahoe was ready to issue emergency alerts to get residents out of harm’s way.
“We may not be able to save our community, but we will be able to save our people,” Wallace said. “I’m certain of that.”
On the west side, south of Pollock Pines, bright pink retardant blanketed many homes on the east side of Sly Park Road. In Pleasant Valley, firefighting helicopters routinely passed overhead.
Even for those not in evacuation zones, the environmental situation was dire — air quality readings were off the charts in downwind communities Saturday morning. In El Dorado Hills and Placerville, the Air Quality Index score — a basic yardstick for determining the level of air pollution — exceeded 500. Any score over 100 is considered unhealthy for all groups.
At the tiny Lake Tahoe Airport, which also serves as the City Hall for South Lake Tahoe, the smoke was so thick late Friday afternoon that the shapes of the trees across from the airport’s single runway were barely visible from the main building on the other side.
Fred Page, a software company employee, spent 10 days at a vacation rental in South Lake Tahoe with his husband and their three dogs after evacuating their home in Kyburz, southwest of the lake along Highway 50.
By Friday, the smoke-filled skies had become too much for them to bear. The couple evacuated again, to a hotel in the East Bay.
“It was more than unhealthy,” Page said in a phone interview. “We couldn’t really be outside, and with the dogs, they always want to be outside.” On Saturday, a reporter went to Kyburz and found that Page’s house is still standing.
At the Sierra at Tahoe ski resort, about 3 miles east of the fire’s edge, general manager John Rice said the choking, polluted air had cleared somewhat on Saturday morning but that smoke was still thick.
“It was raining ash all night, almost like it was snowing,” he said. “The air quality was horrific. You couldn’t breathe.”
Rice said four of the resort’s artificial snow guns had been aimed at resort buildings in the event the flames drew closer.
Back in South Lake Tahoe, Wallace said that any local resident with the means and desire to leave the area should do so. To those who don’t live in the scenic town, the mayor’s message was far more blunt.
“That is a very difficult thing for me to say,” said Wallace, a former leader of the Chamber of Commerce. “But this is not the time to come to Lake Tahoe.”
In Pollock Pines, the Burger Barn was gearing up to serve free burgers and fries to first responders.
“It’s a blessing to help out,” said restaurant manager Breanna Aho. She added that the free burgers would be singles, not doubles, because “the firefighters have to go back out and we don’t want them to get too full.”
To the north, the Dixie Fire in Butte, Plumas and Shasta counties consumed 6,000 more acres for a total of 759,218 acres, with 48% containment. It has now been burning 44 days.
“Humidity recovery was poor, allowing the fire to continue to burn actively throughout the night,” the Cal Fire statement said. “Isolated torching was observed with some spotting ahead of the fire.”