Caldor Fire

[1confused1]

All of South Lake Tahoe is under a mandatory evacuation, this fire is unbelievable. Tahoe is my happy place and future retirement location, this breaks my heart.

www.sfgate.com/california-wildfires/article/Caldor-Fire-Tahoe-evacuations-Sierra-map-where-16422453.php

[Pom]

😢😢😢

[bimbi284]

There’s also been fires at BWCA (Boundary Waters in northern MN)

[goldengirlz]

I don’t even know what to say but I feel the same “no, no, not Tahoe” feeling (even though it shouldn’t happen anywhere.)

It’s not just the smoke, or the heat, or dismal air quality … it’s such an emotional gut punch as well.

As an aside, between people moving there during the pandemic and visitors wanting covid-safe outdoor recreation, Tahoe’s been bustling this summer (for better or worse.) I know traffic getting out yesterday was a nightmare.

ETA: I also forgot that it’s almost Labor Day weekend (not traveling this year — but during a typical year, we, like everyone else, would probably be getting ready to head up there in a couple of days.) That probably didn’t help the evacuation either.

[litebright]

I am so sad about this. DH and I were grad students scraping by when we got married and we drove to Tahoe for our honeymoon. We did ski trips to Heavenly a couple of times while we were living in NorCal and one of my first experiences spending time with his family was when they all came out for a ski trip in Tahoe.

We had planned to go back last summer for our 15th anniversary and had to cancel because covid. I have so many good memories of Tahoe and it's tough to think about that beautiful place going up in flames.

[sonrisa]

It's heartbreaking.

Images of snow machines try to dampen the blaze at Sierra at Tahoe are surreal. So are the ones of fire fighters using Kirkwood chairlifts to move equipment. We used to ski mostly at Kirkwood and Squaw when I was a kid. Every time they refresh the burn maps it inches closer to Kirkwood. It looks like that will be the next big resort to get hit.

Yesterday, Oakland fire dept showed their emergency response crew heading out to help Ida victims. It says so much about California's proficiency at emergency response that they'll drive through the smoke and past all those huge wildfires just to get to the people far out of state they are going to help. 

[tiki]

sonrisa, I learned to snowboard at Sierra (later rode mostly at Kirkwood) and it's also the images of snow machines being used against fire that are getting to me. And imagining all the houses along 50 & 88 that are likely no longer there. I can't even think about the fire getting into South Lake.

[spindle92]

Aug 30, 2021 23:45:23 GMT -5 bimbi284 said:

There’s also been fires at BWCA (Boundary Waters in northern MN)

Yes and they are having a hell of a time fighting them.

One of my best friend's has a home that is 18 miles from the fire line right now.
They have emergency bags packed if they get the word to evacuate but I am heading up there tomorrow with a truck to try and help them move as much of their belongings out before the fire jumps again.

It is all just so heartbreaking

[sonrisa]

Aug 31, 2021 11:18:42 GMT -5 spindle92 said:

Aug 30, 2021 23:45:23 GMT -5 bimbi284 said:

There’s also been fires at BWCA (Boundary Waters in northern MN)

... 18 miles from the fire line right now.
...
I am heading up there tomorrow with a truck to try and help them move as much of their belongings out before the fire jumps again.

I know intellectually that the fires in Minnesota are much smaller so this is probably a reasonable plan but my anxiety spiked just reading those words. Images of Paradise evacuees and the Tubbs fire go through my head.

18 miles isn't far and evacuating is often slow because of traffic. Please stay safe. No family heirloom is worth getting stuck.

[mouse]

Growing up we used to camp near Truckee most summers and see the 4th fireworks at the lake. It’s such a beautiful, unique place.

[spindle92]

Aug 31, 2021 11:42:55 GMT -5 sonrisa said:

Aug 31, 2021 11:18:42 GMT -5 spindle92 said:

... 18 miles from the fire line right now.
...
I am heading up there tomorrow with a truck to try and help them move as much of their belongings out before the fire jumps again.

I know intellectually that the fires in Minnesota are much smaller so this is probably a reasonable plan but my anxiety spiked just reading those words. Images of Paradise evacuees and the Tubbs fire go through my head.

18 miles isn't far and evacuating is often slow because of traffic. Please stay safe. No family heirloom is worth getting stuck.

I 100% understand where you are coming from.  The "good" news (if there is any) is they have had a small amount of rain the last 2 days and it looks like more is coming, so that will help with containment.

Truthfully I do not understand why they have even waited this long to leave but apparently up there, people feel ok about it.
It's weird to me because I have never experienced anything like this and I am in full fledged panick mode for them.
  

[pinkdutchtulips]

Tahoe is my happy place too .. it’s heartbreaking the fires. We foolishly or bravely depending on how you look at, went up last weekend (8/20-23) shortly before they shut down the main artery between Sac and Tahoe and took the back way home through Kirkwood on Monday. As of now, ALL of that is threatened.

We went up for my bday that J had been plotting since Feb. Certain areas were smoky on the way up and South Lake was fairly clear, a bit hazy but clear. The next the smoke poured in … the concert we were to attend on Sunday was postponed and when we left Monday, you could barley see the lake 10yds away.

[heygrey]

Aug 31, 2021 12:01:01 GMT -5 spindle92 said:

Aug 31, 2021 11:42:55 GMT -5 sonrisa said:

I know intellectually that the fires in Minnesota are much smaller so this is probably a reasonable plan but my anxiety spiked just reading those words. Images of Paradise evacuees and the Tubbs fire go through my head.

18 miles isn't far and evacuating is often slow because of traffic. Please stay safe. No family heirloom is worth getting stuck.

I 100% understand where you are coming from.  The "good" news (if there is any) is they have had a small amount of rain the last 2 days and it looks like more is coming, so that will help with containment.

Truthfully I do not understand why they have even waited this long to leave but apparently up there, people feel ok about it.
It's weird to me because I have never experienced anything like this and I am in full fledged panick mode for them.
  

Fire evacuations are so nuanced. There is currently a fire burning less than a mile from my house and never in the last 2 weeks did I think of evacuating preemptively. H's job has continued with the exception of the first day and his employer is just outside the fire line. Lots of people did have to evacuate, a coworker lost her house. But there are only so many places for evacuees to go, so if everyone leaves just because they end up taking hotel/camping spaces from people who definitely need to be out. There is another fire ~20 miles away that has been massively destructive, but the only people who evacuated ahead of an order were rural properties with animals. For a lot of us, this is now normal summer life. We're prepared to leave with a 5 minutes notice, but until then work and life continue. We can't just leave. 

[sonrisa]

Aug 31, 2021 15:40:25 GMT -5 heygrey said:

Aug 31, 2021 12:01:01 GMT -5 spindle92 said:

I 100% understand where you are coming from.  The "good" news (if there is any) is they have had a small amount of rain the last 2 days and it looks like more is coming, so that will help with containment.

Truthfully I do not understand why they have even waited this long to leave but apparently up there, people feel ok about it.
It's weird to me because I have never experienced anything like this and I am in full fledged panick mode for them.
  

Fire evacuations are so nuanced. There is currently a fire burning less than a mile from my house and never in the last 2 weeks did I think of evacuating preemptively. H's job has continued with the exception of the first day and his employer is just outside the fire line. Lots of people did have to evacuate, a coworker lost her house. But there are only so many places for evacuees to go, so if everyone leaves just because they end up taking hotel/camping spaces from people who definitely need to be out. There is another fire ~20 miles away that has been massively destructive, but the only people who evacuated ahead of an order were rural properties with animals. For a lot of us, this is now normal summer life. We're prepared to leave with a 5 minutes notice, but until then work and life continue. We can't just leave. 

I think living someplace with a narrow, single road out affects the way I think about it, too. Our neighborhood fire plan (ie. "evacuate because the mountain side we are nestled in has caught fire") probably means we can't actually get out of town. My neighbor's plan for dealing with that traffic in case of an emergency is literally "get as close as you can to the shore line, ditch car, run the remainder and wade in" 

[heygrey]

Aug 31, 2021 16:22:17 GMT -5 sonrisa said:

Aug 31, 2021 15:40:25 GMT -5 heygrey said:

Fire evacuations are so nuanced. There is currently a fire burning less than a mile from my house and never in the last 2 weeks did I think of evacuating preemptively. H's job has continued with the exception of the first day and his employer is just outside the fire line. Lots of people did have to evacuate, a coworker lost her house. But there are only so many places for evacuees to go, so if everyone leaves just because they end up taking hotel/camping spaces from people who definitely need to be out. There is another fire ~20 miles away that has been massively destructive, but the only people who evacuated ahead of an order were rural properties with animals. For a lot of us, this is now normal summer life. We're prepared to leave with a 5 minutes notice, but until then work and life continue. We can't just leave. 

I think living someplace with a narrow, single road out affects the way I think about it, too. Our neighborhood fire plan (ie. "evacuate because the mountain side we are nestled in has caught fire") probably means we can't actually get out of town. My neighbor's plan for dealing with that traffic in case of an emergency is literally "get as close as you can to the shore line, ditch car, run the remainder and wade in" 

"Run to the lake" was a legit evac plan in our old town. We had a single access point to our neighbourhood of ~120 houses and then only a 2 lane "highway" out of town for ~6k people. Depending on where a fire started determined whether or not we would attempt to drive out. Thankfully the whole town has never evacuated at once, but with the increased fire risk I would say it's only a matter of years. Some portion of the town has been under evacuation order every summer of the 10 years we lived there. Now we live in a neighbourhood with a single access road again, but we're more towards the centre of a town - so a mile from any forest instead of 3 houses away. It would still be awful getting out of here, but our risk of evacuating is less.