CA Fires Latest: Crews Make Progress In Lake Tahoe; 16 Big Blazes

CALIFORNIA — More than 15,000 firefighters continued to defend the Golden State from the menace of 16 massive blazes burning Wednesday. On the same day, a mass shutdown of all national forests began ahead of Labor Day weekend to bolster public safety as critical fire weather lingers in the state.

The Dixie Fire, the second-largest in state history, and the Caldor Fire broke records this week, with both fires burning from one side of the Sierra Nevada to the other, the Los Angeles Times reported.

In Northern California, crews were still up against unusually dry heat, but flame fanning winds that were expected did not materialize on Tuesday, allowing firefighters to finally make headway in the battle to save South Lake Tahoe from the approaching Caldor Fire, which was threatening some 35,000 homes.

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"We lucked out a little bit yesterday with some of the winds that didn’t come up quite as hard as we expected them to," Tim Ernst, an operations section chief, told firefighters in a morning briefing.

The fast-moving blaze has been barreling toward Lake Tahoe from the southwest along California Highway 50, climbing over a high-elevation Sierra Nevada summit and descending into the Tahoe Basin.

"We were fortunate the fire did not make as strong a push into Tahoe as it did the previous day," Ernst said.

Throughout the region, red flag warnings remained in place until 11 p.m. as fire crews braced for another onslaught of gusty winds and low humidity in the eastern and northern Sierra, Cal Fire reported. The combination of gusty conditions and dry fuels could create a dangerous potential for more blazes to spark this week.

In Southern California, crews made significant progress on the Chaparral Fire, which exploded over the weekend at the edge of the Cleveland National Forest in Tenaja, sending residents fleeing from their homes. As of Wednesday morning, the firefighters were holding the blaze at 1,427 acres, with 80 percent containment.

NEW: San Rafael Blaze Triggers Evacuations

Across the Southland, temperatures were expected to remain unseasonably cool through Thursday. But a warming and drying trend was expected to pick back up through the weekend throughout the region, elevating fire risk again.

Since the start of 2021, wildfires have ripped through more than 1.88 million acres in the Golden State.

In an effort to head off the potential for more blazes to spark, national forests across California will be closed ahead of the Labor Day holiday weekend. Starting Wednesday, all but one national forest in the state will be closed under an order issued by the U.S. Forest Service. All forests in the Pacific Southwest region will remain closed through Sept. 17.

"We do not take this decision lightly but this is the best choice for public safety," Regional Forester Jennifer Eberlein said. "It is especially hard with the approaching Labor Day weekend when so many people enjoy our national forests."

READ MORE: California's National Forests To Close Ahead Of Labor Day Weekend

Residents were forced to flee from a long section of the tourist-heavy Lake Tahoe shoreline this week as the 204,390-acre Caldor fire threatened the resort region.

The streets of the popular vacation hot spot — normally filled with thousands of summer tourists — were barren this week after the rapid growth of the monstrous fire forced a mass evacuation of South Lake Tahoe on Monday and triggered hours of gridlocked traffic.

At an evacuation center in Nevada, Lorie Major told the Associated Press she had packed a bag in preparation to leave and was at the grocery store when she got the alert on her phone.

“I had to tell myself: ’OK, Lorie: Get it together. It’s time to go,’” she said Tuesday from the Douglas County Community & Senior Center in Gardnerville, Nevada.

South Lake Tahoe Mayor Tamara Wallace was among those leaving ahead of an evacuation order. She and her husband took their dogs and items given to them from deceased parents — objects that can't be replaced.

Wallace did not think the Caldor fire would come so close. Fires in the past did not spread so rapidly near the resort city of 22,000 people.

“It's just yet another example of how wildfires have changed over the years,” she said. “It's just a culmination of 14 to 18 more years of dead trees, the droughts we’ve had since then, those kinds of things.”

PHOTOS: Caldor Fire Rages Through South Lake Tahoe

Fires Of Interest Burning In The Golden State

Caldor Fire: El Dorado County, South Of Grizzly Flats – El Dorado National Forest

• 204,390 acres, 20 percent contained.
• Nearly 35,000 structures threatened.
• 729 structures destroyed.
• Evacuation orders and warnings remain in place, new evacuation orders issued.

Chaparral Fire: Riverside And San Diego Counties — Southwest Of Murrieta – Cleveland National Forest

• 1,427 acres, 80 percent contained.
• Evacuation orders and warnings in place.
• Unified Command Cal Fire and the U.S. Forest Service.

Dixie Fire: Butte, Plumas, Lassen, Tehama And Shasta Counties

• 844,801 acres, 52 percent contained.
• Nearly 14,000 structures threatened.
• More than 1,282 structures destroyed (14th most destructive wildfire).
• Evacuation orders and warnings in place for multiple communities.
• Unified Command of Cal Fire, U.S. Forest Service, Bureau of Land Management and National Park Service.

French Fire, Kern County, Sequoia National Forest

• 25,782 acres, 43 percent contained.
• Evacuation orders in place.

Monument Fire: Trinity County, Five Miles West Of Big Bar, Shasta-Trinity National Forest

• 174,706 acres, 29 percent contained.

Federal Incidents

Antelope Fire: Siskiyou County, Five Miles South Of Tennant, Klamath National Forest

• 71,456 acres, 70 percent contained.

Knob Fire: Humboldt County, Two Miles South Of Willow Creek, Six Rivers National Forest

• 1,236 acres, 0 percent contained.
• Evacuations in progress.

McFarland Fire: Shasta, Trinity And Tehama Counties, Shasta-Trinity National Forest

• 122,653 acres, 96 percent contained.

River Complex: Siskiyou County, Seven Miles West Of Callahan, Klamath National Forest

• 106,165 acres, 23 percent contained.
• Complex comprised 23 fires; 16 fires contained
• Evacuation orders in place.

McCash Fire: Siskiyou County, Ten Bear Mountain McCash Creek, Six Rivers National Forest

• 38,903 acres, 1 percent contained.

Walkers Fire: Tulare County, 16 Miles Northeast Of Springville, Sequoia National Forest

• 8,304 acres, 52 percent contained.

Lava Fire: Siskiyou County, Northeast Of Weed, Shasta-Trinity National Forest

• 26,409 acres, 94 percent contained.
• Two structures damaged.
• 23 structures destroyed.

Beckwourth Complex: Lassen/Plumas Counties, Northeast Of Beckwourth, Plumas National Forest

• 105,670 acres, 98 percent contained.
• 23 structures damaged.
• 148 structures destroyed.

South Fire: San Bernardino County, North Of Fontana – San Bernardino National Forest

• 819 acres, 85 percent contained.
• Evacuation orders and warnings remain in place.

Tamarack Fire: Alpine County, South Of Gardnerville, Humboldt-Toiyabe National Forest

• 68,637 acres, 82 percent contained.

Extended Attack Incident

Railroad Fire: San Bernardino County, Off Interstate 15 In The Cajon Pass – San Bernardino National Forest

• 61 acres, 50 percent contained.

Roadside Fire: San Bernardino County, Cajon Pass – San Bernardino National Forest

• 50 acres, 60 percent contained.

Washington Fire, Tuolumne County, West Of Sonora

• 100 acres, 85 percent contained.

Historic drought and recent heat waves tied to climate change have made wildfires more difficult to quell on the West Coast. Rising temperatures have made the American West much warmer and drier in the past 30 years and will continue to make weather more extreme and wildfires more frequent and destructive, scientists have said.

And the explosive pace of new wildfires showed no sign of slowing.

The Dixie fire is the Golden State's largest wildfire so far this year. Pacific Gas & Electric Co. equipment may have ignited that fire, according to a report released by the utility last month.

Last month, a repairman reportedly spotted what he suspected to be a blown fuse while he was responding to an outage in Feather River Canyon off state Route 70 in Oroville. Because of rough terrain and roadwork, the worker could not reach the pole for several hours, the utility said. By the time he reached the area, two or three blown fuses may have sparked a fire at the base of a healthy green tree leaning on the pole that held the conductor.

The combination of worsening drought, rising temperatures and arid fuels pointed to another devastating wildfire season, Gov. Gavin Newsom warned in May.

"You're already feeling the temperature shifts," he told reporters. "You already saw those red flag warnings, which are earlier in May than we've seen in many, many years because of the winds that are coming earlier. "

READ MORE:

• Tenaja Evacuations Remain Monday For Chaparral Fire Near Murrieta
  
• San Rafael Blaze Triggers Evacuations
• Free Air Filtration Device Program Expands To Entire Bay Area
  
• Bay Area Air Quality Advisory Issued For Monday
  
• Massive Fire Threatens Lake Tahoe, More Ordered To Flee
• 4 Key Things To Know About CA's 2021 Wildfire Season
• PG&E Says Its Equipment May Have Sparked NorCal Fire

Patch Editor Paige Austin and the Associated Press contributed to this report.