San Francisco Chronicle - (Sunday)
Evacuees: Weary Lake Tahoe area residents hope to return home, but fire threat remains
TRUCKEE — In the parking lot of the Truckee Veterans Memorial Building, where the Red Cross is operating an evacuation shelter, Amy and David Cechin peered out the windows Interactive explainer: How firefighters try to save homes in the path of fire, step by step. sfchron icle.com/ save-houses of their Dodge Pro Master conversion van on Saturday afternoon. A thick layer of smoke from the Caldor Fire had choked the sky and blotted out the distant mountains. The couple, who moved to South Lake Tahoe six weeks ago, left in their van as soon as the evacuation warning was issued last Sunday night. They spent the first night in the Hard Rock Casino parking lot, then returned home to gather more belongings. Then, on Monday morning, came the order to leave.
After nearly a week away from home, they’re anxious for
the ordeal to be over. Any excitement has worn off, and they need to go job hunting. Amy seemed relieved, at least, to not be marooned on a city street.
“We’re very grateful to have this,” she said. “It’s nice to have a place to park at night and to have a bathroom and food.” They were among tens of thousands of people evacuated as the Caldor Fire tore through the Sierra Nevada and crept toward Lake Tahoe, emptying areas that normally swarm with tourists during the last days of summer. It’s been weeks for some people living in places like Grizzly Flats, which was leveled by the fire Aug. 14 and remained closed Saturday.
Hundreds headed to evacuaCounty tion centers to wait out the blaze. But many found other accommodations: friends’ homes, campgrounds, hotels, trailers parked at the side of the road. Once they settled, evacuees had to put their lives on hold, unsure when they could resume jobs and normal routines.
Time often slows down in last torpid days of summer, but for those hoping for word about homes and neighborhoods they’d left behind, it seemed to stop altogether.
It was still unclear Saturday when many people could return, though by the late afternoon, fire officials said they had made progress. Containment of the fire rose to 43% Saturday night, up from 39% in the morning. Residents living at the west zone of the fire in El Dorado were allowed to return home, and so were people in parts of Nevada, including Douglas County.
For those sheltering in parking lots or community centers, “I can’t say if it will be several days or several weeks,” said Jaime Moore, a public information officer for the Caldor Fire.
Like tens of thousands of evacuees, the uncertainty weighed on Jamie Hicks, 30, who wasn’t sure where to go when he was told to abandon his home in South Lake Tahoe several days ago.
“I was just terrified,” he said. “I didn’t know where we were going to end up.”
He, his roommate and their two dogs first looked for places to camp, but found none. After spending one night in a Reno
hotel — too expensive to be a long-term solution — they headed to Truckee, where the barnlike Veterans Memorial Building is serving as an evacuation shelter.
The funky old hall has become like a second home, Hicks
said. A volunteer took in his German shepherd and sends him pictures regularly. He’s gone on fishing trips with other evacuees and even went to some downtown Truckee bars, where folks were eager to talk.
“It was like being a temporary local,” he said.
Caldor Fire evacuation shelters in California and Nevada housed about 500 people Friday night, according to Steven Walsh, an American Red Cross spokesperson.
But Hicks’ time as a Truckee resident might end soon — his employer, South Lake Tahoe Refuse, wants him to return Monday. Hicks is a “swamper,” the guy who runs alongside the garbage truck, pulling filled trash cans from bear boxes.
“It’s going to be a little weird picking up trash in a ghost town,” he said.
Bella Casey, 53, sat outside at a bus stop in Truckee waiting for the next Greyhound to San Francisco, with no plans of turning back.
Casey had arrived in South Lake Tahoe a few weeks ago to start what she called “a vacation job” working at a resort hotel.
But soon after, the smoke grew so thick that “you couldn’t see to the end of the street,” she said.
Casey was evacuated a week ago from her employee quarters. Upset over what she described as a chaotic experience, Casey found a job as a fifth-grade teacher at a small school in San Francisco, letting go of her dream to live and play in a lakeside wonderland.
Unlike the many residents who are eager to return, Casey said she won’t even go back for the jewelry, shoes and clothing she left behind.
“I’ve been to Alaska, Yosemite, Yellowstone, Glacier” for similar jobs mixing work and travel, she said. “I’m passionate about travel. But this is the worst experience I’ve ever had.”
By the time officials evacuated South Lake Tahoe, musician Tommy Ciccone — known as Tahoe Tommy — had already hitched the travel trailer to his pickup with his three dogs and two guitars. He’s now camped
out in the parking lot of the Truckee evacuation center. The pandemic was tough on the music business, but the evacuation only made things worse. “It’s a horrible disruption of work,” he said. “And I’ve been worrying that this beautiful property I just bought might not have been such a good investment.”
The risk to South Lake Tahoe was not nearly as pressing as it was earlier in the week, when the air was hotter and the winds were stronger. The weather was cool and crisp Saturday, with hardly a breeze in the air. It’s a lucky break that firefighters were scrambling to take advantage of.
The favorable conditions have helped firefighters make significant progress, Moore said. But they’re not ready to drop their guard with the blaze still active and so close to the world-renowned town.
The fire is “5 miles away, but we’ve also seen this fire move 8
miles an hour,” Moore said. “Can you imagine if we let people back in, and then those spot fires take off ? They’re not going to want to leave again.”
On the east side of the fire, closest to South Lake Tahoe, crews were “aggressively engaged in fire suppression” — continuing to focus on structure protection, strengthening containment lines and extinguishing hot spots to keep the blaze from moving closer to South Lake Tahoe, Christmas Valley and Stateline, Nev., Cal Fire said.
Firefighters hope that more humidity overnight will continue to keep fire activity at bay.
The huge blaze has torn through 214,112 acres, making it the 15th-largest wildfire in California history. There have been no deaths, but seven firefighters and two civilians have been injured, according to Cal Fire. Caldor has destroyed 920 structures, including 712 single residences, Cal Fire officials said. Officials are still assessing the damage.
Moore said he understands the frustration of residents and business owners, who just want to come home and reopen. It is Labor Day weekend, after all, and the amount of money that businesses are losing is “overwhelming,” he said.
Just before noon, about a dozen evacuees gathered outside the Truckee shelter to hear two U.S. Forest Service workers explain the progress on the Caldor Fire. There was no estimate for when they could return home.
The evacuees had no questions.