South lake tahoe fire hazmat7/1/2023 “Upon completion of training at JBLM, the Soldiers will deploy to Northern California to conduct additional fireline training prior to serving as hand crews assisting with wildfire suppression on the Dixie Fire,” the Army statement said.ĬNN’s Christine Sever, Michael Guy and Stella Chan contributed to this report.South Lake Tahoe is full of older homes, built from the 1940s to the 1970s, said Crystal Kolden, an assistant professor of fire science at the University of California, Merced. The largest active wildfire in the state, the Dixie Fire, has grown to 771,183 acres since igniting in mid-July, according to Cal Fire. Units from Joint Base Lewis-McChord (JBLM) in Washington state will be trained to assist with the response to the Dixie Fire which is burning on National Parks land, the release said. Wildfires in the state have gotten so intense that approximately 200 Army Soldiers will be deployed at the request of the National Interagency Fire Center (NIFC) to assist with firefighting operations starting Monday, a statement from US Army North Public Affairs said. Kirkwood Mountain Resort said in a message Sunday that it is under a mandatory evacuation.Īnd the Heavenly Ski Resort said on Twitter earlier this month, “Due to ongoing risk of wildfire to the Tahoe Region, Heavenly is now closed for summer.” Northern California wildfires traveled up to 8 miles in a single day, Cal Fire says Homeowners Jose Lamas, center, his wife, Maria Covarrubias, right, and his daughter Astrid Covarrubias walk through the smoke after visiting their burned-out home from the South Fire in Lytle Creek, San Bernardino County, north of Rialto, Calif., Wednesday, Aug. Not only has it prompted evacuations for residents but it has also closed at least two local resorts. It is one of several fires burning in California where more than 1.76 million acres have been scorched this year alone, the Cal Fire website shows. “Fire weakened trees continue to present a risk for crews.” “Low humidity remained poor overnight and allowed the fire to continue to actively burn,” according to an incident update. Officials Sunday evening listed the fire at 168,387 acres and 13% contained. The Caldor Fire is now 177,260 acres and 14% contained, Cal Fire said Monday, as the fire continued to “actively burn” overnight due to low humidity as it threatened South Lake Tahoe. Soldiers deployed to help with fire operations With an extreme drought and several active wildfires burning during the middle of the state’s fire season, firefighters have had to pace themselves and outside resources have been called in. The agency said in a tweet Sunday that smoke from the wildfires has created poor air quality across the region, with some locations in the hazardous category.Ī red flag warning will be in place from Monday night until Tuesday as humidity values will run as low as 5-10%, according to CNN Meteorologist Michael Guy. Inciweb’s incident report on the Caldor Fire said the increase in spread was due largely to wind gusts between 25-35 mph and relative humidity between 10-15%.Ĭritical fire weather conditions are expected in the coming days, according to a tweet from the National Weather Service in Sacramento, with gusts of 20 to 35 mph possible in the afternoons and evenings. US Drought Monitor for card US Drought Monitor “The most important thing people can do now is get their go-bags ready and have a plan in place to evacuate should an evacuation order get extended,” city spokeswoman Lindsey Baker told CNN. The city of South Lake Tahoe earlier asked residents to be prepared for the possibility of evacuations. “The neighbors were all leaving … we just packed everything up best we could and off we go.” No one came to the house,” he told CNN affiliate KTVN. “I found out by a warning basically and that was it. Victor Babbitt, a resident of Meyers in El Dorado County, said he was lucky to be able to get out when he did despite not receiving a formal notice to leave. “Those who require additional time to evacuate and those with pets and livestock should leave now,” the alert warned. The warning, which signifies that there is “a potential threat to life and/or property” was expanded for additional parts of the basin, Cal Fire said in an alert Sunday. An evacuation order had been issued for some parts of Alpine and El Dorado counties, along with evacuation warnings for other parts of the counties, Cal Fire said in a news release.
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