In more than 30 years as a firefighter, East Fork Fire District Chief Tod Carlini said he's never seen devastation comparable to the Angora fire which by 4 p.m. Monday had destroyed 2,000 acres at Lake Tahoe.
"Oh, my God, the complete devastation," Carlini said. "The news reports about the loss of structures don't even come close to seeing actually what's been destroyed. It's the most devastating fire situation I have ever seen. It's just incredible."
More than 200 structures have been destroyed with preliminary damage estimates at $100 million.
Carlini was at the site Monday with Deputy Fire Chief Dave Drew.
The East Fork Fire District sent three engines and a water tender along with eight career firefighters and six volunteers.
The Paramedic District sent an ambulance on Sunday, the day the fire broke out, to assist with the transfer of a critical care patient from Barton Memorial Hospital to
another facility.
Carlini said one of the engines was being used at the Tahoe-Douglas fire station for backup to protect the casino core at Stateline.
"This is the fire that everyone had hoped would never come," Carlini said. "We're talking as if it's over, but it's not. There is a considerable amount of work to do over the next couple of days."
He described the terrain as rocky and mountainous.
"It's very steep and there is a lot of heavy timber," Carlini said. "In my opinion, there was an excessive amount of downed material. That stuff has been there for years and years and years, and just contributed to the fire."
He said he and Drew were amazed at the number of homes which were destroyed.
"A lot of times when you do structure counts, it will include outbuildings and detached garages. I can tell you this time they were talking about homes people were living in. It was just tragic that the fire came through so fast," he said.
"It was a red flag day and everything came into alignment, the wind, the terrain, the dry fuel, the topography, and whatever caused the fire to start " everything for this to happen was there. All it needed was a little bit of wind."
Carlini said he saw evidence of heroic efforts to save homes.
"Some were successful, but there was no rhyme or reason which ones survived. Those with defensible space have a better chance, but conditions were such that it was good fortune and luck," he said.
"The secondary tragedy is some of these firefighters lost their homes. What I observed were not just retirement-type homes. These are people who live and work there and serve their communities whether it's the fire department, law enforcement, nurses and people who work in the hospital. They were out doing their jobs and lost their homes. It was just tragic," Carlini said.
Sheriff Ron Pierini said two deputies, four reserve officers and eight Search and Rescue volunteers had been dispatched from Douglas County to assist with crowd control, traffic diversion and evacuations.
"We're prepared to go obviously if it crosses the state line in South Lake Tahoe, but at this point, it's a good 2 miles from Nevada," Pierini said Monday.
