California Wildfire Nears Lake Tahoe, Forcing Evacuations

(Bloomberg) -- California’s Caldor Fire moved closer to Lake Tahoe as officials told more residents living in the outskirts of the mountain resort area to leave. 

On Thursday, the evacuation order zone was expanded to the top of the ridge above the Lake Tahoe basin, according to the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, or Cal Fire. Officials also extended east the closing of a key mountain road that connects Sacramento to South Lake Tahoe. 

Expected dry and windy conditions could push the fire into more populated areas over the next few days, resulting in the evacuation of more communities including the city of South Lake Tahoe, state officials said. 

The Caldor Fire, which erupted Aug. 14 on the hills east of Sacramento, has seriously injured two people, destroyed the town of Grizzly Flats and has burned more than 136,000 acres. The blaze has also forced more than 24,000 people from their homes and choked the Lake Tahoe area with toxic smoke, largely shutting down the popular summertime vacation destination. 

Several large wildfires are burning across Northern California, where a severe drought has left forests tinder-dry. The fire threat has been moving south with a new blaze near Los Angeles popping up on Wednesday that burned 18 structures.

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