On Sunday, firefighters lost some containment on the Caldor Fire as the blaze was pushed by the harsh conditions towards the Tahoe Basin’s heavily populated areas.
Crews reverted back to 13% containment from the 19% when they started, which was believed to be due to an unfavorable day on the fire lines. As of Sunday evening, a total of 168, 387 acres have already been devoured by fire.
“Everything is burning different today. We’re seeing movement like we saw about 15 days ago,” according to Eric Schwab, Cal Fire operations section chief, during a briefing on Sunday evening. “A couple days ago I really felt like we were turning the corner with it… To put it in perspective, we’ve been seeing less than a half mile of movement on the fire’s perimeter for the last couple weeks each day. Today, this is already moved about two and a half miles with no sign it’s about to slow down.”
This has resulted in more evacuation orders on Sunday afternoon for the counties of El Dorado, Amador and Alpine. The town of Meyers was also included in the new orders.
People living in Christmas Valley from Highway 89 West to Echo Summit, as well as Highway 89 westbound to Watershed Ridge and Echo Summit, and south to the Amador/El Dorado County Line are included in the evacuation zone in El Dorado.
Meanwhile, the order in Alpine County covers residences in Highway 89 south from Luther Pass Road to Picketts Junction, as well as westbound on Highway 88 to Kirkwood. An evacuation point of the Red Cross was placed at the Italian Picnic Ground in Sutter Creek, SFGate reported.
Moreover, an evacuation warning, which means locals should be prepared to leave, was also released in El Dorado County from Sawmill Road at Lake Tahoe to Pope Beach.
