![]() "In the valleys we're doing plenty of work," fire information officer Marco Rodriguez said. On the fire's northeastern side, firefighters with bulldozers and shovels steadily hacked out fire lines and burned away vegetation to box in the flames before they reached Lake Tahoe - despite gusty ridgetop winds. 14, was named after the road where it started and raged through densely forested, craggy areas - was still considered a threat to more than 30,000 homes, businesses and other buildings ranging from cabins to ski resorts.īut there was optimism and progress as winds eased on the fire's western flank. "Just because we don't have red flag wind conditions across the fire, the wind threat is still there and it's all localized," he warned. "Things are clearly heading in the right direction for us."Īmid the positive outlook, incident meteorologist Jim Dudley warned that the air mass in the Sierra Nevada drains downslope every night and then sloshes upslope during the day and that the region's terrain of ridges and deep canyons can create winds that go in "squirrely directions." "The last time it grew that small of an amount was 14 days ago," Gould said. 'We’re still not out of the woods': Improved weather conditions could aid crews fighting to save Lake Tahoe from Caldor Fire ![]() Watch: 'Firenado' swirls in front of firefighters at California's Dixie Fire Gould said the Caldor Fire's growth rate had declined for four straight days and that its growth from Thursday to Friday morning was just 3.6 square miles. Let's take full advantage of it while we have this window." "Very positive trends with regards to weather, said Dean Gould, a U.S. The fire had been driven northeast on a course leading to South Lake Tahoe for days by southwestern winds, but that pattern ended this week and containment of the blaze increased to 29%. The nearly 333-square-mile fire was not making any significant advances and was not challenging containment lines in long sections of its perimeter, but Ernst said "the risk is still out there" with some areas that remained hot. "I'll sum everything up on the incident with the words cautiously optimistic, and that's as the result of a lot of hard work that you've put in now in over two weeks of being here," Tim Ernst, an operations section chief, told firefighters. The Caldor Fire remained only a few miles from the city of South Lake Tahoe, which was emptied of 22,000 residents days ago, along with casinos and shops across the state line in Nevada, but no significant fire activity occurred there on Thursday, officials said. The huge California wildfire near Lake Tahoe resort communities has calmed down significantly and was growing at the smallest rate in two weeks, but firefighters must stay engaged and take advantage of good weather while it lasts, commanders said Friday. Watch Video: Caldor Fire: Lake Tahoe residents evacuate as wildfire approaches ![]()
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