To Save Lake Tahoe, They Spared No Expense. The Fire Came Over the Ridge Anyway.
Thomas Fuller, Livia Albeck-Ripka and Max Whittaker
Tue, August 31, 2021, 2:39 PM·7 min read
SOUTH LAKE TAHOE, Calif. — They sent thousands of firefighters, 25 helicopters and an arsenal of more than 400 fire engines and 70 water trucks. Yet the fire still advanced.
They dropped retardant chemicals through an ash-filled sky and bulldozed trees and brush to slow the march of the flames through the steep and rugged terrain of the Sierra Nevada. Yet the fire still advanced.
Bursting across a granite ridge into the Lake Tahoe basin, the Caldor fire now threatens tens of thousands of homes and hotels that ring the lake.
On Tuesday, the smoke-choked streets of South Lake Tahoe, the most populous city on the lake, were deserted, save for police patrol cars and an occasional convoy of fire vehicles. Thousands of residents and tourists had been evacuated the day before.
The lake, renowned for its bright blue hues and the evergreen forests that surround it, was smothered in a slate of sickly orange-gray haze. On the Nevada side of the border, which has not yet been evacuated, one industry was still limping along: A trickle of gamblers sat at slot machines to the whooshing sound of large air purifiers that attempted to keep out the pungent smoke. The air quality index was nearing 500, a level considered hazardous.
https://news.yahoo.com/save-lake-tahoe-spared-no-183902403.html?soc_src=social-sh&soc_trk=tw&tsrc=twtr
( Live updates at link )
Keep track of Northern California wildfires with The Chronicle’s interactive fire map. See air quality information down to the neighborhood level in real time with The Chronicle’s air quality map.
https://www.sfchronicle.com/california-wildfires/article/Lake-Tahoe-live-updates-Latest-news-as-Caldor-16424724.php
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