forests, the watershed once benefited from frequent, low-intensity fires caused by lightning and Indigenous burning practices, experts say. The project included the 3,435-acre Caples prescribed burn in 2019, which was declared a wildfire after winds picked up and it burned at a higher intensity than intended, requiring suppression resources to be called in. The Forest Service partnered with the Sierra Nevada Conservancy on a project that called for 8,800 acres to be burned in the Caples Creek drainage over 10 to 15 years starting in 2017. Forest Service with completing both prescribed burns and vegetation thinning operations. “They’ve had a forest clearing initiative for the last nine to 10 years that really cleared out that fuel load,” he said, crediting the U.S. Some of it, he said, was the weather: the winds were not quite as fierce as initially forecast and subsided further midweek.īut ultimately, Wilbourn credited three key factors with helping to save South Lake Tahoe: extensive firefighting operations, residents maintaining defensible space around their homes and past forest management projects. Some of it was terrain: a portion of the fire’s northern flank reached granite around Pyramid Peak in the Desolation Wilderness, depriving it of fuel to burn, he said. He ticked off the factors that played into the improved prognosis. There were still some areas of concern where crews were working to ensure flames would not slop over containment lines, including the Christmas Valley and Kirkwood areas, as well as portions of the Heavenly area, he said. Parker Wilbourn, another public information officer on the fire. “It’s no longer burning miles upon miles in a single 12-hour period, and that just had to do with the change in weather,” he said.Īlthough it was too soon to say South Lake Tahoe was completely out of the woods, authorities were cautiously optimistic, said Capt. “So there was a little bit of divine mercy.” “If we would have had the same weather and fire behavior continue for two more days, we would have had a real problem,” said Dominic Polito, a public information officer on the fire. They credited a combination of aggressive firefighting tactics, improved weather conditions and past efforts to prepare the landscape for wildfire. No structures burned in South Lake Tahoe, and crews were also able to save homes in Christmas Valley and Meyers.įirefighters had carved containment lines around more than a third of the blaze. The fire is now 43% contained.Ĭrews made a stand in Christmas Valley and held the fire south of Meyers in the northern Sierra Nevada. Tens of thousands of residents and visitors fled, gridlocking traffic along Highway 50.īut the danger appeared to have largely abated Saturday, as authorities said the fight against the 214,112-acre blaze seemed to have turned a corner. Forecasters warned of gusty winds and bone-dry conditions that could push it further toward populated areas, raising fears of an urban conflagration. The fire spotted over a granite ridge that officials had hoped would keep flames from spreading into the Tahoe Basin. Things looked grim for South Lake Tahoe as the Caldor fire barreled toward the treasured resort community this week.
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