Smoke was thick along Foothill Road on Tuesday evening as Douglas County Sheriff's Search and Rescue team members started notifying residents its possible they may have to evacuate.
Photo by Kurt Hildebrand.
Genoa, Nev. — Satellite mapping indicates the Caldor Fire has burned to within 3-4 miles of the Douglas County line as of this morning. The fire grew beyond 200,000 acres, according to the fire mapping with a 6,000-acre spot fire east of Highway 50 above South Lake Tahoe showing active fire since midnight.
Flames are visible on the Heavenly Ski Area camera looking southwest this morning. The Hawkins Peak camera is showing smoke and flames burning northeast with the two targets coming together just south of the Nevada state line. You can check yourself at alertwildfire.org
Foothill residents living between Centerville and Muller lanes are on an evacuation alert this morning as county officials are concerned that a third day of red flag warnings in a row could drive the fire along the ridge before it backs down into Carson Valley or the Tahoe Basin, or both.
I expect the Douglas County Community and Senior Center is full again after South Lake residents were moved to Reno-Sparks to make way for Tahoe-Douglas evacuees. Its capacity is only 200 people, according to the fire information.
High Sierra Fellowship in Gardnerville, Carson Valley Bible Church in Minden and Hilltop Community Church in Sunridge are among the churches that have some space available for people to park their RVs. I don’t have an exhaustive list, but anyone who wants to may contact me at editor@recordcourier.com.
There’s also a list of churches in the back of the Almanac which you can access at https://edition.pagesuite-professional.co.uk/html5/reader/production/default.aspx?pubname=&edid=f22dc2de-c53e-4639-81b5-e4ec5ed8779d Not all have big parking lots but a check on Facebook should tell you whether they’re taking guests.
I’ve heard from at least one other resident who says they have a few spots. Ranchos resident Brian Ferriera said he has a few spots near his house. You can contact him at badferr@gmail.com
Paving will wrap up on Muller Lane today, I hope. The state will have it down to one lane until this evening. Expect delays, though there are plenty of ways to avoid it entirely.
We could see west winds 10-15 mph this afternoon, gusting to 25 mph through the night. A red flag warning for gusty winds and low humidity remains in effect until 11 p.m.
Kurt Hildebrand is editor of The Record-Courier. Reach him at khildebrand@recordcourier.com
