CALDOR FIRE UPDATE. MINIMAL FIRE GROWTH, INCREASED HUMIDITY, LIGHT WINDS.

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September 3rd

THE NUMBERS

213K Acres
3K Acres Growth
29% Contained (+4%)
661 Homes Destroyed
6 Injuries
20th Day of Fire

OVERVIEW

The Caldor Fire was relatively quiet overnight, growing on all fronts by a total of just under 3 thousand acres. Rising overnight humidity, light winds and cool temperatures are helping to slow the blaze. Crews were working in several places to put out hot spots and construct containment, hand and dozer line at the fire’s edge. These included the head of the fire at Trimmer Peak area near the Heavenly Resort, the Christmas Valley (Luther Spire area) east of HWY 89, Upper Echo Lake on the edge of Desolation Wilderness, and Pioneer Trail-Caples Lake area east of Kirkwood Resort. Helicopter water drops are also planned today in most of these areas.

An inversion that was helping to cap the fire in the Tahoe Basin was expected to lift during the late morning, allowing increased fire activity, especially at higher elevations, but also more possibility for air attack on active flames.

Image 1 In most areas, fire is staying on the ground. This is activity overnight.

Images 2-3 At the head of the fire a large operations center has been set up at Heavenly Resort’s California base area.

Images 4-5 Operations map on September 3rd showing fire location in the Tahoe Basin, as well as new fire growth in same area (newest fire growth is in black) Activity was minimal in last 24 hours.

Images 6-7 Operations map on September 3rd showing fire entering Desolation Wilderness and at Echo Lakes and nearing Wrights Lake and new fire growth in same area. (newest fire growth is in black) Activity has slowed in last 24 hours.

Images 8-9 Operations map on September 3rd showing fire near Kirkwood and new growth in the same area. (newest fire growth is in black)

Images 10-11 Image of smoke plume over eastern sector of fire and smoke penetrating imagery showing extent of burned area, as well as active fire. This view is from roughly Twin Bridges on HWY 50 east. Active fire is above the Christmas Valley-HWY 89.

OTHER RESOURCES:
It is important to note that remote mapping of the fire is most often hours old. Perimeter data is collected overnight by infared imaging, and heat signatures several times a day.

Below we have assembled a dashboard of useful links, which will help you to understand the Caldor Fire, and how it is being battled.

Finally, to get the latest, best mapping information, use a variety of sources and understand that none will be truly up-to-date.

One useful one is Firemappers, which relies on satellite heat detection, and adds mapped fire perimeters. Satellite heat signatures are generally not accurate at the neighborhood level and should be used as a rough guide to fire movement:
https://tinyurl.com/55zszc2h

Another is the official InciWeb page for the Caldor Fire, which uses flight mapping:
https://inciweb.nwcg.gov/incident/maps/7801/

General information from CAL FIRE:
https://www.fire.ca.gov/incidents/2021/8/14/caldor-fire/

Evacuation Information: (El Dorado County)
https://www.edcgov.us/Pages/Caldor-Fire.aspx

Evacuation Information: (Douglas County, NV-East side of Lake Tahoe)
https://www.douglascountynv.gov/…/caldor_fire_tahoe_evacuat…

For real time winds at Lake Tahoe, one source with clickable links:
https://www.windfinder.com/#10/38.9946/-119.9666

For truly real-time visual information, AlertWildfire cameras are useful. There are dozens in the Tahoe Basin, and elsewhere on the perimeter of the Caldor Fire.
http://www.alertwildfire.org/tahoe/index.html

Other Cams:

South Lake Tahoe:
https://tahoesouth.com/things-to-do/lake-tahoe-webcams/

Cal Trans:
https://cwwp2.dot.ca.gov/vm/iframemap.htm