Due to a mix of improved weather conditions and successful suppression strategies performed by firefighters, the Caldor Fire is now at least 37% contained after burning some 214,107 acres — giving new hope for evacuees that they can return to their houses soon.
There's no going around this: Firefighters saved South Lake Tahoe from almost certain destruction. Through diverting parts of the Caldor Fire to "fresh burn areas," as well as using specific suppression techniques that took advantage of milder wind conditions to drive down the worst of the fire.
Today, more than 15,300 firefighters remain on the frontlines of 16 active large wildfires that have burned more than 1.92 million acres.
— CAL FIRE (@CAL_FIRE) September 2, 2021
Get the latest on these incidents at: https://t.co/jBh7Rim5k6 pic.twitter.com/wy0Mp9zIhT
“The incident continues to look better and better every day," Tim Burton, who’s an operations chief with the California Department of Forestry and Fire Prevention, said to firefighters at a Saturday briefing. “A large part of that is due to your hard work as well as the weather cooperating in the last week or so.”
Per the Press Democrat, The northeast section of the blaze was still within a few miles of South Lake Tahoe and the Nevada state line. However, fire officials said it hadn't made any significant advances in several days — and they're sure it wasn't challenging containment lines in long sections of its perimeter.
City and state authorities allowed more people back into their homes on the western and northern sides of the fires Friday afternoon, prompting others who live in neighboring regions to have hope they'll, too, be able to return home.
Thus far, the fire — which began August 14, marked by an explosive amount of initial growth — has destroyed almost 900 structures; the Caldor Fire has still been deemed a threat to more than 30,000 more structures.News of the Caldor Fire's containment comes at a time where the Dixie Fire — the state's largest single-source fire, to date — is still raging on with now over 55% of it contained.
Measuring, 885,954 acres in size, the Dixie Fire is inching close to the size of last year's August Complex fires, which became California’s first "gigafire" at 1,032,648 acres.
Related: South Lake Tahoe Spared Another Night From Caldor Fire
Photo: Embers blow out of burned tree trunk after the Caldor Fire moved through the area on September 1, 2021 near Strawberry, California. The Caldor Fire has burned over 190,000 acres, destroyed hundreds of structures and is currently 18 percent contained. (Photo by Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)
