Evacuation Warnings are now Evacuation Orders in South Lake Tahoe.
CHP is directing evacuees out of town along Highway 50 and Highway 89. The Caldor fire has burned 191,607 acres and is 15% contained. "This is a systematic evacuation, one neighborhood at a time," South Lake Tahoe police Lt. Travis Cabral said on social media. "I am asking you as our community to please remain calm." The new orders came a day after communities several miles south of the lake were abruptly ordered evacuated as the Caldor Fire raged nearby, according to NPR.
In California alone, more than 15,200 firefighters are fighting more than a dozen large fires. Flames have destroyed about 2,000 buildings and forced thousands to evacuate this year while blanketing large swaths of the West in unhealthy smoke. The U.S. Department of Defense is sending 200 Army soldiers from Washington state to help firefighters in Northern California, the U.S. Army North said in a statement Saturday. Eight Air National Guard and Air Force Reserve C-130 aircraft capable of dropping thousands of gallons of fire retardant also have been sent to fight wildfires in the West.