Source: Wildfire Today
A rapidly growing wildfire in Northern California that is covering more than 53,000 acres prompted the Sheriff’s Offices in El Dorado and Amador Counties to issue mandatory evacuation orders for thousands of residents living near the area Tuesday morning.
According to the United States Forest Service El Dorado Division, the Caldor fire began Saturday evening in the Omo Ranch area, about 60 miles east of Sacramento. Since then, more than 10,000 personnel have been deployed to help contain multiple fires across California, including the Caldor fire, which comprises about 6,500 acres of Californian soil. Since Tuesday, the wildfire has not been contained, but it has grown more than 4,000 acres in less than a day, threatening 2,000 infrastructures in the area, according to the California Governor’s Office of Emergency Services or Cal OES.
“Night firefighting and challenging terrain made accessing the fire more difficult,” said the El Dorado Sheriff’s Office in a statement. “The fire expanded actively throughout the night,” they added.
Because of the wildfire’s unpredictable behavior, authorities have begun to expand their mandatory evacuation orders for neighboring communities on Tuesday morning. Residents in Sly Park, Happy Valley, and the Grizzly Flats and Somerset areas were required to evacuate as the fire continued to dangerously loom over communities. Additionally, campers in Sly Park Recreation Area were rushed out to prevent further accidents or injuries caused by the incident.
Currently, more than 17,000 individuals across California have been evacuated, heeding to the orders of authorities according to CAL OES.
This year, the world has experienced tremendous heat due to the fluctuating weather conditions brought about by climate change. Global warming and ongoing drought conditions in the western U.S. are drying out high-elevation forests, making them highly susceptible to blazes. With several Western states plunging deeper into a megadrought, and experts predicting a hot and dry summer, the findings add to a distressing outlook for this year’s wildfire season.
As a matter of fact, firefighters are still battling the Dixie fire, which is nearly 100 miles away from the Caldor fire, the nation’s largest wildfire and second-largest in California history. The Dixie blaze has been reported to be active for 34 days, burning 605,000 acres of California forests. According to CalFire, only 30% of the Dixie has been contained, leading authorities to scrap plans on allowing evacuated residents to return to their homes as the threat of the fire still looms.
“In this environment, any type of wind, no matter what direction, especially the way the fire’s been going, is a concern for everyone,” information officer Jim Evans said in a news conference.
To this date, the Dixie fire has destroyed over 1,100 buildings and 625 homes. With the unpredictability of its behavior, the fire is still expected to expand, threatening more than 14,000 structures near the area. Although it has been projected that the blaze would be contained by October, authorities cannot guarantee everything as these wildfires are ultimately controlled by fluctuating weather conditions.
References:
https://wildfiretoday.com/2021/08/18/caldor-fire-prompts-evacuations-east-of-placerville-california/
