Some of South Lake Tahoe’s 20.000 residents ignored mandatory evacuation orders as a disastrous two-week-old fire creeps closer to town limits.
The fire that threatens at least 33.000 additional homes and buildings has burned nearly 827 square miles since it broke out on August 14.
More than 4.200 firefighters have been deployed, even from Wisconsin and West Virginia, to help with outdoors fire work.
Evacuated people, firefighters and other emergency services are staying at hotels.
In all, 15.000 firefighters are on duty across all of the U.S., although the Dixie Fire was still burning.
More than 15.000 firefighters were fighting dozens of fires in California, aided by crews across the state.
Some 26 helicopters have been dumping water and dampening the fire in Caldor.
Lorie Major, a South Lake Tahoe resident, was at the grocery store when she received the alarm on her cellphone.
Smoke Report for the #CaldorFire area for September 1, 2021
For more visit: https://t.co/YU3f0GIGeQ pic.twitter.com/XEoLaROJx8— CAL FIRE AEU (@CALFIREAEU) September 1, 2021