South Lake Tahoe residents return as crews stall wildfire’s advance

The resort town’s normally bustling streets remain quiet.

SOUTH LAKE TAHOE, CALIF. — Thousands of people who fled South Lake Tahoe under threat of a wildfire were allowed to return as crews stalled the flames from advancing, but many shops remained dark Monday and the resort town’s normally bustling streets remained quiet.

A week ago, the scenic tourist town on the California-nevada state line emptied out when authorities issued an evacuation order as the fire approached from south. Now, traffic is trickling back but nothing like the crowds that typically pour in over the summer to enjoy Lake Tahoe’s crystalline waters, which are covered by a smoky haze.

Lake Tahoe Community College student Dakota Jones returned Monday to South Lake Tahoe after being evacuated to Carson City, Nevada. He said he worried he’d find buildings damaged or covered in ash and was pleasantly surprised to find the city of 22,000 people largely untouched when he and his roommate drove a U-haul full of their belongings back to their old apartment.

“I was honestly convinced this place was gonna go down,” Jones said. “It was nice to see that I was wrong.”

Evacuation orders for South Lake Tahoe and other lakeside areas were downgraded to warnings Sunday afternoon.

The threat from the Caldor Fire hasn’t entirely vanished, but downgrading to a warning meant those who wish could return to their homes in what had been a smokechoked ghost town instead of a thriving Labor Day getaway location.