Red Flag Warning and Mandatory Evacuations
The WSJ reports South Lake Tahoe Evacuated as Caldor Fire Spreads.
The Caldor Fire edged closer toward South Lake Tahoe and the Nevada state line, as firefighters fought to protect homes and businesses a day after evacuation orders cleared out the popular California tourist town.
The fire had burned 186,568 acres and was 15% contained as of Monday morning, according to the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, or Cal Fire.
A red-flag warning, indicating hot, dry weather and gusty winds that could accelerate the spread of wildfire, is in effect until Wednesday evening. The conditions are keeping firefighters on alert as embers from the fire have been traveling far distances, passing containment lines and creating spot fires in areas three quarters of a mile to one mile away, according to Cal Fire. Evacuation orders were issued for all of South Lake Tahoe’s 22,000 residents Monday, and city officials said the process was complete in the early evening. They said traffic delays of up to 3½ hours were a sign the orders were widely heeded. With the city emptied, fire officials said they could concentrate on battling the quickly spreading blaze.
Caldor Fire Tweets
Footage offers a glimpse into conditions faced by firefighters battling to contain the Caldor Fire burning near Lake Tahoe. The destructive wildfire has triggered additional evacuations as over 30 new fires erupt across California. https://t.co/M3PsKZ8cQx pic.twitter.com/T1Pd7Tr8hc
— ABC News (@ABC) August 27, 2021
Use of Snow Making Equipment
Using snowmaking equipment to stop forward progress of the Caldor Fire at Sierra-at-Tahoe. The snow guns created a mist that protected the lodge. A firefighting technique I certainly haven’t seen before
Photos by @JoshEdelson @karlmondon @KCRATeSelle pic.twitter.com/4ZkQXlsSi5
— Alissa Walker (@awalkerinLA) August 30, 2021
Wildfire Crosses Sierra Nevada
Caldor fire and Dixie fire are the first wildfires in California history to burn from one side of the Sierra Nevada Mountains to the other.
Unprecedented.
Caldor fire and Dixie fire are the first wildfires in California history to burn from one side of the Sierra Nevada Mountains to the other.https://t.co/1osSNLq0Cz
— Los Angeles Times (@latimes) August 31, 2021
The LA Times reports the Dixie fire is now the second-largest in state history and still burning out of control. The 190,000-acre Caldor fire is much smaller but now threatens more than 33,000 homes in the Lake Tahoe Basin, an area many residents believed was fairly well protected from fires.
State of Emergency in California and Nevada
https://twitter.com/GovSisolak/status/1432460910891659274
Satellite Update
WILDFIRE UPDATE: The raging #CaldorFire continues to threaten communities near #LakeTahoe, seen here last evening from @NOAA‘s #GOES17🛰️. At last report, the #wildfire had grown to 186,500+ acres and the governors of Calif. and Nev. have declared states of emergency. #CAwx #NVwx pic.twitter.com/K6qqs5KB8b
— NOAA Satellites – Public Affairs (@NOAASatellitePA) August 31, 2021
Traffic Jam Gridlock Leaving Tahoe
There’s an absolute traffic nightmare for people evacuating from South Lake Tahoe right now.
— Grant Marek (@Grant_Marek) August 30, 2021
Disastrous Urban Conflagration
As firefighters make an all-out push to keep the Caldor fire out of Lake Tahoe, experts warned of potentially catastrophic losses if flames move into neighborhoods along the famed lakeside resort. https://t.co/GjlAUAPBds
— Los Angeles Times (@latimes) August 31, 2021
Wow.
Best wishes to all impacted.
Undeniable Science Addendum
The costs of fire suppression for 100 years with dead timber mounting up is the main problem, not a 1 degree or whatever rise in temperature. https://t.co/pMvZ1iRN44
— Mike “Mish” Shedlock (@MishGEA) August 31, 2021
Undeniable Science
Fire suppression leads to the build-up of dead biomass in fire-prone ecosystems which produce very severe fires when they do burn.https://t.co/PuQRxjisQq https://t.co/mm9Pihtsmu
— Mike “Mish” Shedlock (@MishGEA) August 31, 2021
1. Climate Change is very slow
2. But the climate changes much faster than dumb policies get rectified
3. Finally, Climate Change is much slower than new dumb policies get created.
Regarding 2: People slowing understand fire suppression mistake
Regarding 3: Look at AOC etc. https://t.co/erytECzw1y
— Mike “Mish” Shedlock (@MishGEA) August 31, 2021
Fire Suppression
Fire suppression leads to the build-up of dead biomass in fire-prone ecosystems which produce very severe fires when they do burn.
Check out ScienceDirect’s article on Fire Suppression for the key explanation of what’s going on and why.
We have had 100 years of fire suppression. That’s where to look first. Then you can debate what lit the match.
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Mish
When these massive fires continue to burn year after year even after the loggers have “cleared the brush”, their useful idiot lackeys will have to come up with yet another excuse, and of course they will.
Trump demands more war (but not really aware of how much was spent over the years)…
“If it is not handed back, we should either go in with unequivocal military force and get it, or at least bomb the hell out of it. Nobody ever thought such stupidity, as this feeble-brained withdrawal, was possible!”
Lake, the Walker River and other parts of the Sierra Nevada, said that
the past century has been among the wettest of the last 7,000 years. The longest droughts of the 20th century, what Californians think of as
severe, occurred from 1987 to 1992 and from 1928 to 1934. Both, Stine
said, are minor compared to the ancient droughts of 850 to 1090 and 1140
to 1320.”
The only reason forest fires are even really a problem is because people built in the middle of them. I propose we let people build whatever they want on land they own in the pine forests but stop giving government subsidies to help them rebuild. Eventually the insurance companies will stop insuring them and then people will stop building. It’s quite painful to lose a million dollar home to a fire and have it come out of your own pocket.
There is a reason the West has as many forest fires as it does and that is due almost exclusively to the presence of uniform evergreen\pine forests, totally unlike anything on the East Coast.
No, it’s not just California’s reluctance to clean up the forest litter like the Republicans always claim.
No, it’s not because of the drought. Ever wonder how fires were put out 500 years ago? They weren’t. They burned massive quantities of forest every so many years, essentially cleaning out the forest litter. Now we put them out. There’s plenty of evidence fires before industrialized man arrived were bigger, larger and covered 10x as much land as today. We’ve interrupted the natural cycle.
So fires like this yes, are exacerbated by dry conditions but happen even during wet years. As long as structures are built within pine forest these things will happen and cannot be prevented.
Claiming Republican or Democrat fault to a fire is like blaming someone for the Chelyabinsk meteor. You can mitigate the damage from fires and meteors but you can never prevent them.