[ad_1]
a explosive California wildfire who forced thousands of people to evacuate their homes and devastated a mountain community last week is “knocking on the door” of the Lake Tahoe Basin, the state’s top firefighter said Monday.
The Caldor Fire, which burned more than 117,000 acres in 10 days and remains 9% contained on Tuesday, forced the closure of schools in the Washoe County School District and several flights to and from the Reno-Tahoe International Airport.
Heavy smoke also contributes to record levels of dangerous air quality in surrounding areas. The Washoe County Health District – Air Quality Management Division issued an emergency warning after the Air Quality Index, or AQI, for the Reno-Sparks area on Monday reached 291, compared to 251 the day before. Air quality is expected to be “very poor” to “dangerous” through Wednesday.
On Monday, Thom Porter, director of the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, or Cal Fire, said the blaze was the “No. 1 priority in the nation” for securing more resources to help prevent them. damage it could inflict on the popular destination and region, home to tens of thousands of people.
“It’s so important,” Porter told reporters, adding, “We have every effort to keep him out of the pool.”
The blaze destroyed 557 buildings, Cal Fire said. Last week, he cremated much of Grizzly Flats, a small community 65 miles east of Sacramento.
Eric Schwab, a section chief with Cal Fire, said on Monday that limiting the spread of the fire eastward to Tahoe and small mountain communities was a “huge priority.” But firefighters were struggling to contain a localized fire in this rapidly expanding section of the blaze, he said.
More than 24,000 people remained under evacuation orders Monday in El Dorado County, where the fire broke out on Aug. 14, according to the governor’s Office of Emergency Management Services.
Evacuees flooded campsites, churches and shelters while waiting to return home.
The blaze, which grew to more than 47,000 acres in less than 24 hours, jumped onto US Route 50, the main thoroughfare through the Tahoe area.
The blaze is one of 12 major fires ravaging the state. A Cal Fire spokesperson said Monday that 1.5 million acres burned in California this year, a 42% jump from last year when the highest number of acres in history modern had burned down across the state. More than 14,000 firefighters are deployed across California on Tuesday, according to Cal Fire.
Experts have attributed the state’s increasingly intense fire seasons to historic drought amplified by climate change and a century of fire suppression policies that have built dense forests that can be used as kindling.
[ad_2]
Source link