“We’re right smack in the middle of wildfire peak season,” Cal Fire Chief Thom Porter said. The outlook for the rest of the year includes more heat and dryness.
Lila Seidman
Posted inEnvironment
All-out fight to save South Lake Tahoe as Caldor fire forces evacuation warnings
The Caldor fire has swelled past 143,000 acres and continues to burn toward South Lake Tahoe, where evacuation warnings have people on high alert. The blaze was only 12% contained as of Friday morning.
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Winds push Caldor fire 14 miles from South Lake Tahoe as crews surge to stop it
The Caldor fire is now less than 15 miles from South Lake Tahoe, and fire officials are pooling resources to stop it, authorities said. “We feel pretty confident that the work that we are doing should keep it from getting to South Lake Tahoe,” one battalion chief said. “That’s not to say it’s not a threat; it’s definitely a threat.”
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Caldor fire approaches Lake Tahoe; residents brace for the worst
A spot fire threatened the community of Twin Bridges, about nine miles from the shore of the lake, prompting evacuation warnings. Gusting winds Wednesday pushed the fire toward the lake, and warmer temperatures forecast for later this week could also spur the blaze.
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Caldor fire burns more than 440 homes as Lake Tahoe air quality ranks among worst in U.S.
More than 17,000 structures remain under threat from the blaze, which was just 5% contained as of Monday. Strong winds helped the fire grow to more than 100,000 acres over the weekend as it pushed closer to South Lake Tahoe.
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PG&E starts planned power shutoffs to 51,000 customers as Dixie fire rampages
Roughly 48,000 customers in Northern California could lose power Tuesday night, the utility said, as forecasts called for fierce winds of up to 50 mph that could topple trees into energized power lines were forecast.
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PG&E threatens power shutoffs as Dixie fire rages in Northern California
Strong winds are expected to plague the Dixie fire burn area, which has exploded to nearly 570,000 acres in Northern California. PG&E has said its equipment might have sparked the Dixie blaze, which is the second-largest fire in state history.
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Storms threaten to grow monstrous Dixie fire: ‘Everything is ready to burn’
Gusts of up to 40 mph could carry burning embers, while lightning strikes could further ignite parched wildlands, swelling the already massive Dixie fire. Firefighters could get a break overnight, forecasters said, but adverse weather conditions are likely to return Friday.
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More than 550 homes destroyed by Dixie fire as it surges past half a million acres
More than half of the 1,000 structures destroyed by the massive Dixie fire were single-family homes, the latest incident report shows. Containment improved to 30%, but the fire still grew in several directions Wednesday.
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More extreme behavior: Dixie blaze generates fire whirl, pyrocumulonimbus cloud at 40,000 feet
A massive storm cloud formed Monday night above the Dixie fire, generating a spinning vortex of flames and ash that soared into the sky. Containment improved to 25% on Tuesday, but the unusual activity was a reminder that “this fire still has a lot of potential.”