EL DORADO COUNTY, Calif. — After burning for weeks and destroying hundreds of homes, the Caldor Fire burned up Highway 50 toward Echo Summit and roared into the Lake Tahoe Basin.
The locals of South Lake Tahoe prepared to watch the fire ravage their homes, but their worst fears did not come true.
Instead of burning up Christmas Valley to the South of town, the fire jumped over it.
Firefighters were not able to keep the fire from crossing Highway 89 and spreading East toward Nevada, but they were able to save all of the homes in the valley and keep the fire from spreading into populated areas.
The success came from a good kind of perfect storm, which involved three key elements.
1. The wind blew in perpendicular to the Valley.
A lot of the embers landed in the forest on the East side of the Canyon. Those spot fires grew massive, but the wind pushed them away from houses.
2. A small army of firefighters worked hard down in the valley.
Crews jumped on the spot fires that sparked in the area and put them all out before they got big. They held the valley floor while the flames raged on the hills to both sides.
3. People had days of advance warning that the Caldor Fire could run toward the basin.
That gave those firefighters a chance to pre-position, but it also gave them a day or two to do prep work. That part of the Tahoe basin also benefited from years of cutting work to reduce the fuels before the fire came.
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