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-Updates: Get information on Caldor’s Fire from the El Dorado National Forest.
-Information line: (530) 303-2455
-Evacuations: Receive the latest information from United States Forest Service and from a map released by the El Dorado County Sheriff’s Office.
-Plans: Find it from the Forest Service.
Ripping through the dry landscape of the El Dorado National Forest at unfathomable speeds, the Caldor Fire in California near Lake Tahoe more than tripled in size on Tuesday to about 23,000 acres without containment, setting off a wave of ‘evacuations, burning parts of a small town and injuring at least two people, officials said.
In this long-exposure photo, embers soar from burning trees as Caldor’s Fire grows on the Mormom Emigrant Trail east of Sly Park, Calif., Tuesday, August 17, 2021.
Ethan Swope / APFirefighters said an unknown number of structures were destroyed, but Sacramento Bee reporters on the ground in Grizzly Flats (residents 1,200) found an elementary school, church, post office and other buildings in ruins. Two civilians were seriously injured in the blaze, Cal Fire said in a statement Tuesday evening. Both were transported from the Grizzly Flats area by air ambulance to a hospital.
Authorities ordered residents of Pollock Pines to evacuate on Tuesday evening, and crews fought the blazes overnight to protect the town of about 7,000 people near Highway 50. The community of Kyburz has also received orders evacuation.
The California Highway Patrol warned that Highway 50, a major artery between South Lake Tahoe and Sacramento, could close overnight, but it appeared to be open Wednesday morning.
Roads in the area were blocked with traffic on Tuesday as residents fled. CapRadio reporter Scott Rodd share a Tuesday video of the traffic saved along Sly Park Road.
The Caldor fire broke out on Saturday about 40 miles southwest of Lake Tahoe, as the crow flies. The blaze exploded from 2,261 acres Monday night to 6,500 acres Tuesday morning, burning through heavy lumber in a steep river canyon, Cal Fire said.
The first flames were spotted at 7 p.m. Saturday just south of Pollock Pines in El Dorado County, 4 miles south of the small town of Grizzly Flats (population 1,000) and 2 miles east of the unincorporated community of Omo Ranch.
The fire was extremely active in hot, gusty weather and with parched and dry vegetation due to the drought. The western United States has been warmer and drier over the past 30 years due to climate change leading to more destructive wildfires, scientists say.
“Firefighters say the Caldor Fire blaze grew so quickly that they even struggled to keep their maps up to date with the perimeter,” Fox News reported.
Guy Tucker photographed the Caldor fire three miles west of Fair Play, Calif., Late on Monday night, August 16, 2021.
Courtesy of Guy Tucker / @ wine.alchemyThe Caldor fire emitted huge plumes of smoke, rising more than 20,000 feet into the air.
The fire camera positioned on Leek Spring Hill, about 40 miles southwest of South Lake Tahoe, showed that the blaze looked more like an erupting volcano than the kind of fire Californians are unfortunately used to. .
A sculpture rests in front of a Grizzly Flats home destroyed by the Caldor fire in El Dorado County, Calif., Tuesday, August 17, 2021.
Ethan Swope / AP“It’s very scary,” said Neil Lareau, professor of atmospheric sciences in the physics department at the University of Nevada at Reno, who studies the weather generated by wildfires. “We have the worst mix of things you can do for fires, which is a combination of dry vegetation, strong, shifting winds, and an atmosphere for those deep plumes of smoke.”
Nearly 250 people are affected by the fire. The cause of the fire is unknown.
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