The wildfire has burned through about 80 acres and is 20 percent contained, Cal Fire officials said
The Cache Fire in Northern California has devastated the region, while the fast spreading Caldor Fire wildfire grew 24 times in size in just two days.
The wildfire has burned through about 80 acres and is 20 percent contained as of Thursday, Cal Fire officials said.
About 50 homes in Clearlake have been burned to the ground and 1,600 people were forced to be evacuated at the height of the fire, and about 800 people were put on evacuation standby, NBCBayArea.com reported.
The high offshore winds that fanned flames Wednesday near the town of Clearlake calmed Thursday, and crews continued to prevent spread, SFGATE.com reported.
We’ve got some winds going up and down. They’re making everyone a little nervous, Lake County Fire Protection District board chairperson Jacqueline Snyder told SFGATE. Snyder said that damage assessments are underway in burn areas, but that the number of structures destroyed is estimated in the dozens.
Meanwhile the Caldor Fire, which started on Saturday a few miles south of El Dorado County has burned through over 65,000 acres since Thursday and forced more than 16,000 residents to evacuate as firefighters struggle to slow the fire which has zero containment so far.
As with many wildfires in the west, the Caldor Fire has been fuelled by wind and dry conditions and has burned through dry vegetation in the area, Cal Fire officials said.
The unfortunate thing is that these fires continue to get bigger, Cal Fire Director Thom Porter said Wednesday. But we’re surging resources into communities to protect and reduce the impact.
As of Tuesday, Cal Fire said the Caldor Fire has destroyed nearly 86 structures and nearly 7,000 structures remain threatened.
KCRA reported that a debris pile and playground equipment were all that remained at Walt Tyler Elementary School in Grizzly Flats and that a reporter for the station said she witnessed a post office that was destroyed.
We know this fire has done things that nobody could have predicted, but that’s how firefighting has been in the state this year, Eldorado National Forest Supervisor Chief Jeff Marsolais told KCRA.
By Wednesday, fire fighters had to evacuate 16,380 people in El Dorado County, according to the Governor’s Office of Emergency Services.
Getting people out of the way of these fires is the best way for us to be able to protect your communities. We need you to evacuate, Porter told residents. Please heed the warnings.
According to Cal Fire, two people had to be airlifted to hospitals after being seriously injured in the area.
In California alone, 900,000 acres have burned this year. The Dixie Fire, the largest in the country, has scorched 600,000 acres in just over a month.
Dixie is the largest of nearly 100 major wildfires burning across more than a dozen Western states.
Nearly 6,000 personnel have been assigned to fight off the devastating fire.
