SOUTH LAKE TAHOE, Calif. (AP) – Tens of thousands forced to flee south of Lake Tahoe could begin returning to their homes after evacuation orders went through warnings Sunday afternoon as crews advanced against a massive forest fire.
Orders that sent 22,000 people to the resort and the surrounding area last week were reduced to warnings, as the fire stalled virtually a few miles from the forested areas on the California-Nevada border.
California Highway Patrol agents began clearing traffic neighborhoods on State Route 50 in Stateline, Nevada, according to KCRA-TV. Members of the National Guard who had helped with the fire had left the area.
The threat of the Caldor fire has not completely disappeared, but switching to a warning meant that those who wished could return home to what had been a smoke-stricken ghost town instead of a thriving getaway location. of Labor Day.
“So far it hasn’t been a car rage,” South Lake Tahoe fire chief Clive Savacool said in an evening news session. “We’re happy to see people moving slowly, just because the city needs time to prepare.”
Savacool said officials expected the local hospital’s emergency room to be open within 24 hours and said paramedics had fire vehicles available for emergency medical care.
However, he said people with health issues may consider staying away due to the smoky air.
People who return should have enough medicine and groceries and a full gas tank to be self-sufficient, Savacool said.
Savacool said law enforcement continued to patrol, so “your home will still be safe.”
However, authorities also warned that in the absence of humans, the bears had gone to the city, scattering rubbish everywhere that needs to be collected.
“The delicate balance between humans and bones has been upset” and anyone who thinks a bear has entered the home should call law enforcement, El Dorado County Sheriff’s Sergeant. Said Simon Brown.
Mandatory evacuation orders next to Nevada from the state line were lifted Saturday, though Douglas County authorities urged residents to remain alert, saying the fire may still threaten homes.
The fire caused by the wind, which at its peak had burned up to 1,000 acres per hour in northern Sierra Nevada, remained primarily within current containment lines overnight and was now contained at 43%, according to Cal Fire.
Most of the west and south sides of the fire had been corraled, although some areas were still out of bounds.
No homes had been lost on the east side of the fire closest to the lake and the crew managed to cut more lines of fire along the edge of a fire finger, which had not moved east. , said Tim Ernst, head of morning briefing fire operations.
“Everything has gone very well” despite some savings between the wood and some hot spots in the west and southeast sections of the nearly 380-square-mile (880-square-mile) fire, Ernst said.
Winds that carried the flames through dry industrial trees, grass and granite outcrops softened in recent days and fire crews were able to double the levels of excavation, burning or piracy.
The fire, which began Aug. 14, destroyed more than 700 homes, devastated much of the small town of Grizzly Flats and injured nine firefighters and civilians, Cal Fire reported.
California and much of the western United States have seen dozens of wildfires in the past two months as the drought-stricken region swelled under a warm, dry climate and winds drove flames through the dry vegetation.
In California, about 14,500 firefighters fought 13 large active fires. Since the beginning of the year, more than 7,000 wildfires have devoured about 8,000 square miles (3,000 square miles), Cal Fire said.
No deaths had been reported specifically for the fires. However, authorities said two people assigned to fire-related tasks died of illness this week, officials said.
Marcus Pacheco, an assistant firefighter operator at Lassen National Forest with 30 years of experience, died Thursday. He was assigned to the Dixie fire burning north of the Caldor fire, authorities reported.
Other details were not released immediately.
The Dixie fire started in mid-July in the northern Sierra Nevada and is the second largest fire in the state’s history. According to Cal Fire, it has burned about 3,625 square miles in five counties and three national parks and forests.
A retired firefighter who was hired to help with the French fire died from complications of COVID-19, authorities said.
He was identified as Allen Johnson.
“Our team, the firefighting community and the world lost a great friend, mentor, teacher and comrade last night,” he said last Wednesday in a message posted to Facebook from Team 14 Management of California Incidents.
The French fire in Kern County was contained by 52% after burning 106 square kilometers.
Firefighting concerns have shut down all of the state’s national forests.
California has experienced increasing and deadly forest fires in recent years, as climate change has made the West much warmer and drier over the past 30 years. Scientists have said the climate will continue to be more extreme and forest fires will be more frequent, destructive and unpredictable.