We recently returned to an iconic stretch of California’s Highway 50 to see how the post-burn landscape compared to images taken a few years prior. The SNC’s work takes us, and our drone, to a lot of special mountain places. Drone imagery of the burn area before and one year after the Caldor Fire Even so, a year after the Caldor Fire it serves as a stark reminder of both what’s at stake in California’s climate and wildfire crisis, and some of the steps we can take to protect the many shared riches of the Sierra Nevada. More thorough assessments of the fire’s many other impacts, whether to the state’s carbon stores, water quality in our rivers, or regional biodiversity, will take time. Treasured Sierra Nevada landscapes, hundreds of homes, including the town of Grizzly Flats, and important economic drivers like the Sierra at Tahoe Resort suffered heavy damage. Landscape-level fuel reduction done before the Caldor Fire played a critical role in protecting natural areas like the Caples Creek watershed while defensible space in the wildland urban interface was pivotal for mountain communities like Sly Park, Pollock Pines & South Lake Tahoe.Įqually clear is the toll taken by the Caldor Fire, just one of several California megafires that burned during the historic 2021 fire season. What we do before wildfires ignite can make all the difference on the ground. Watch “A Year After the Caldor Fire.”Ī year later, some lessons are clear. On Tuesday, more than 15,500 personnel were working on 14 active large wildfires in California.One year ago, the world watched as the Caldor Fire ignited in the Sierra Nevada foothills and burned up and over the rocky crest of the mountains to the southern shores of Lake Tahoe-impacting communities and landscapes along its path. that path has a solid anchor point and we have a direction to go with that right now,” Blankenheim told firefighters. “The road back to some sense of normalcy for us is no doubt going to be long and no doubt going to have some challenges with it, but because of the efforts of this group here. The fire has been “one of the most impactful events that I think we’ve ever seen here,” said Mike Blankenheim, chief of the Amador-El Dorado unit of Cal Fire. 14 on the western slope of the Sierra Nevada and gutted the community of Grizzly Flats as it roared up and over the crest of the mountain range to the eastern side, burning more homes and cabins along the way until it was prevented from reaching Lake Tahoe’s south shore. David Baldwin, who heads the California National Guard.īut with improving conditions, Baldwin said a couple hundred troops, four Guard helicopters and other equipment were pulled back. The firefight was so intense that all eight available firefighting aircraft from the Air National Guard and the Air Force Reserve were called into service Sunday for the first time since 2012, said Maj. “Please don’t go to your homes until you’re actually told that is clear to go to your homes.” “Please be patient, take your time as you’re trying to get back to your homes,” he said. The fire, which has grown explosively at times, was tamed enough to allow authorities to lift mandatory evacuation orders for the 22,000 residents of South Lake Tahoe on Sunday.īut Ryan Okashima, the California Highway Patrol’s assistant commissioner, urged residents to be cautious both in heeding evacuation warnings and when returning home. Some sections of the perimeter were a concern, but on much of the blaze, the work turned to mopping up, pulling miles of fire hose out of the forest and knocking down dangerously weakened trees. “We had very little challenging of the line anyplace on the fire,” said Tim Ernst, a Cal Fire operations section chief. The Caldor Fire grew by just a few hundred acres over 24 hours, to just over 338 square miles (875 square kilometers), and containment lines were holding well, officials said at a briefing.
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