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mtdemocrat.com
Friday, September 3, 2021
Fireman receives skin graft and flood of support Andrew Vonderschmitt Staff writer As the Caldor Fire reaches more than 210,000 acres and presents extreme and dangerous conditions for the nearly 4,000 firefighters engaged in the battle, the likelihood of injury is high. Thankfully, there Richard Gerety III have been relatively few reported injuries in the fight. Richard Gerety III of the West Stanislaus Fire Protection District is one of three front-line firefighters to be injured. Gerety, a mechanic by day and firefighter by night, reportedly fell into flames while battling a n
See Gerety, page A9
Courtesy photo
A chimney still stands at a Phillips residence.
Updated damage map shows Phillips ravaged by Caldor Tahoe Daily Tribune SOUTH LAKE TAHOE — The small community of Phillips along U.S. Highway 50 has been ravaged by the Caldor Fire. Phillips, including the area of Alder Creek Road, was reportedly hit Aug. 29. An updated Caldor Fire structure status map shows more than 60 homes have been incinerated, including a structure at Sierra-at-Tahoe. Photographs from damage assessment teams n See Phillips, page A8 PLACE ADDRESS LABEL HERE
Volume 170 • Issue 104 | 75¢
Crews corral Caldor n
Some evacuations lifted as flames push east
Lauren Keene Davis Enterprise Red-flag wind conditions continued to challenge firefighting crews battling the Caldor Fire Wednesday, though milder weather was expected to lend a hand in the days that followed. Nearly in its third week, the wildfire has burned 210,259 acres and is 25% contained, destroying roughly 800 structures and threatening nearly 32,000 more as it continues to march its way east in South Lake Tahoe. All told, the Caldor Fire stretches some 40 miles in length, scorching more than 18% of El Dorado County. As of 4:30 p.m. Wednesday, nearly 28% of the county’s residents had experienced evacuations. Embers started spot fires on the north side of U.S. Highway 50 overnight Wednesday, but crews jumped on those and continued to mop up and secure the edge,” officials said during the Thursday morning briefing. Cal Fire dedicated heavy resource commitment Wednesday down Highway 50 into Christmas Valley and South Lake Tahoe, where the blaze skirted across the north side of Christmas Valley and pushed toward the east side of Pioneer Trail. Fire officials said Wednesday night no structures have been lost in the Lake Tahoe Basin. “We’re keeping that fire to the east, trying
Photo by Adale van Dam
Flames close in on a cabin on Tamarack Court in Twin Bridges Tuesday night as firefighters are staged for structure protection. to corral it out here” by cutting a dozer line north toward Highway 207, behind the homes along the trail, Cal Fire Operations Section Chief Beale Monday said at Wednesday’s online community meeting. That area has escaped structure damage so far, Monday added. Looking ahead, Cal Fire is exploring the possibility of creating a containment zone
bordered by highways 207, 206 and 88 back toward the Kirkwood region. “As you know if you’re from here, this is some steep, rugged, nasty country and it’s just not safe to put our firefighters up in that stuff,” Monday said of the terrain in that area, marked by waist-high grass, brush and other volatile fuels. “As dry as things are right now, it’s super
explosive and the spread is rapid,” he added. Elsewhere along the fire lines, firefighters boarded boats in order to protect cabins in the lower Echo Lake area, and focused on renewed fire activity on the blaze’s north side, moving west toward Wright’s Lake. Heavy air tankers doused the flames n
See Caldor, page A6
notice
In observance of Labor Day the Mountain Democrat will not publish Monday, September, 6.
Photo by Adale van Dam
Photo courtesy of CHP South Lake Tahoe
A smoky Heavenly Mountain Resort in South Lake Tahoe, left, is pictured Tuesday night. Firefighters are trying to herd flames around ski areas threatened by the Caldor Fire. The Caldor Fire creeps into the Kirkwood area Wednesday, right, near Highway 88.
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