Fire crews took advantage of the favorable winds and poured all their resources into battling a California fire near Lake Tahoe and nearby Nevada.
According to Douglas County Fire Marshal Eric Guevin, the fire was likely around five miles from the Hard Rock Casino in Stateline on Wednesday night.
The Caldor Fire was blown by the violent gusting winds for three days through the jagged Sierra Nevada. But on late Wednesday, firefighters noted a fall in temperature and the turn of the winds to their favor.
“I really don’t think the fire is going to climb over the ridge tonight, things would have to change drastically and we’d have to get more heavy winds to push it,” Guevin said.
The change on the weather elements had fire crews carefully hopeful as they began the clearing operations on the paths to allow safe travel of evacuees from remote areas, Vollmer said.
Across the country, fire crews were deployed into the battle against the blaze, which, since Aug. 14 has already devoured 700 homes and buildings and at only 23% containment.
Scientists said that climate change resulted in the warming and drying of the West in the past three decades, which can encourage more intense and more frequent wildfires.
At least 33, 000 more residences and buildings are at stake with the Caldor Fire’s burning. Firefighters on Wednesday were carried by boat to have the Echo Lake cabins protected.
Personnel deployed to fight the fire are staged at Tahoe’s biggest ski area, the Heavenly Mountain Resort, which is equipped with snow-making tools to protect its structures.
Firefighters are working to prevent the blaze from reaching urban areas where houses and business establishments, as well as other buildings and hotels, are located as these can give the fire more fuel, ABC7 reported.
The city of South Lake Tahoe, which was supposed to welcome a flock of visitors at this time, was instead covered in thick smoke.
