Over 400 homes confirmed destroyed by 100,000-acre Caldor Fire. Highway 50 remains closed

Crews achieved the first small amount of containment on the Caldor Fire over the weekend, but the wind-swept blaze continues to displace nearly 25,000 residents of Pollock Pines, Sly Park, Kyburz and surrounding parts of El Dorado County, with a long stretch of Highway 50 also shut down indefinitely.

Cal Fire and U.S. Forest Service officials reported the wildfire Monday morning at 106,562 acres (167 square miles) with 5% containment.

Firefighters fought red-flag fire weather conditions Saturday that pushed the fire to the northeast. The fire stayed active early in the day Sunday as a smoke inversion layer lifted, but activity was moderate overnight due to cooperating winds and better humidity levels, according to an incident report.

A spot fire on Saturday jumped to the north of Highway 50 near Kyburz. The bulk of the Caldor Fire remains south of Highway 50 and north of Highway 88, where it is burning through extremely dry fuels.

“Crews continue to encounter heavy down and drought-stressed fuels that are extremely receptive to spotting,” Cal Fire and Forest Service officials wrote in Monday morning’s update.

Caltrans on Friday shut down Highway 50 in both directions for a 46-mile stretch between Pollock Pines and Meyers, effectively severing traffic between Sacramento and the South Lake Tahoe area. Caltrans as of early Monday morning said the highway remains closed with no estimated time of reopening.

The Caldor Fire started Aug. 14, then roared to life early last week, ripping through the town of Grizzly Flats and prompting urgent evacuation orders in El Dorado County, quickly expanded to include Pollock Pines and surrounding areas along Highway 50 in the rugged Sierra Nevada foothills, up through the Kyburz area to the northeast.

An evacuation warning remains in place for northern portions of Amador County.

Two civilians located in Grizzly Flats with serious injuries were airlifted to hospitals, Cal Fire and Forest Service officials said. Their conditions were not known. Another man, believed to be among the evacuated in Grizzly Flats, remains missing.

At least 403 homes as well as a half-dozen businesses have been destroyed, according to the agencies’ Monday morning incident report, many of them in Grizzly Flats. Damage assessment remains in progress, and another 17,500 structures are considered at risk.

The Governor’s Office of Emergency Services says 24,500 people have been evacuated from El Dorado County. Fire and sheriff’s officials don’t yet have an estimated timeline for repopulating the area, as the fire continues to burn actively.

The Caldor Fire “is now the No. 1 priority in the nation of fires to get additional and new resources that are becoming available,” Cal Fire Director Thom Porter said during a briefing Monday afternoon at the Cal OES headquarters in Mather. The Dixie Fire is No. 2.

“It is that important. (The Caldor Fire) is knocking on the door to the Lake Tahoe basin. We have all efforts in place to keep it out of the basin, but we do need to be also aware that that is a possibility, based on the way the fires have been burning.”

On Sunday evening, nighttime helicopters worked on the fire after dark — a first for a Northern California wildfire, said Anthony Scardina, deputy forester for the Forest Service’s California region, during Monday’s briefing. Helicopters have worked fires in the southern half of the state since 2013, he said.

Porter said the helicopters couldn’t fly at the Caldor Fire prior to Sunday due to low visibility.

The Caldor Fire has spewed thick plumes of smoke, deteriorating air quality in different regions of California depending on wind direction. It’s one of several major incidents currently burning, including the Dixie Fire near Plumas and Lassen counties as well as a pair of large fires near Trinity County.

Gusts pushing from the southeast as well as a Delta breeze helped push smoke out of the Sacramento area over the weekend, improving air quality considerably. The National Weather Service said relief in the capital region is expected to continue at least through Monday.

But the air has become abysmal in the Lake Tahoe area, according to the weather service and air quality districts.

This story was originally published August 23, 2021 at 7:50 AM with the headline "Over 400 homes confirmed destroyed by 100,000-acre Caldor Fire. Highway 50 remains closed."

Michael McGough

The Sacramento Bee

916-326-5508

Michael McGough is a sports and local editor for The Sacramento Bee. He previously covered breaking news and COVID-19 for The Bee, which he joined in 2016. He is a Sacramento native and graduate of Sacramento State.