and of south lake tahoe. it hasn't gotten into the town yet. and what's your sense just talking to firefighters and people there about how they feel about are they going to dodge a bullet or is it just up to the wind and mother nature. >> well, it's in there feeling a lot more comfortable about the situation right now than they were yesterday. yesterday. they're very worried about miers and other community on the outskirts of south lake tahoe and some other neighborhoods in this area because what they feared could happen with the winds last night, but they had a little break and the way the direction the fire is going appears to be east not northeast where we are. so it appears that it's bypassing the communities around south lake tahoe right now. but one wind event could change that. and that's one thing. firefighters are worried about. they have been cutting a line the wrong one of the roads here near one of the roads here trying to protect this community in the communities around here. but, you know, they

live in south lake tahoe. kpix5. >> thank you. our heart goes out to these folks dealing the flames. also the fire crews dealing the flames. also the smoke and now the pandemic on top that have with coronavirus. mary we will also see you for another update. >>> now the live team coverage continues right now from echo summit where rachel wolf is this morning. >> what is going on out there where you are this morning? >> i will ankle you when we came here this morning the smoke was so thick that it was choking us. we had to drive probably 20, 30 milessa unhour on highway 50 and areas that we were doing twice that speed yesterday. and then we rounded the corner and we saw this. i was here yesterday. the smoke is kind of blocking some of the view. there were flames, three or 400 feet high this is a wider fire line. it is deeper. it's far into the -- i guess the east is what we are talking about. it's cold had morning. definitely much chillier than yesterday. the smoke coming up from christmas valley. we know they were doing a lot of st

. >>> right now at 6:00 for you, closing in on south lake tahoe. the caldor fire sending thousands of people from their homes as it blows towards homes and resorts on the shoreline. "today in the bay" is live onlt frontline following it every step of the way. >> uncertain future for a woman's right to choose. a new abortion ban taking effect overnight in texas, but why this along with the supreme court response could impact women beyond the lone star state. this is "today in the bay." >>> it's wednesday morning and a good morning to you. thanks so much for starting your morning with. i'm marcus washington. >> i'm kris sanchez in for laura today. now we begin right now with team coverage on the desperate battle firefighters are waging in south lake tahoe to save homes as the caldor fire moves in. >> meteorologist kari hall is tracking those conditions. firefighters are dealing with. first we sent "today in the bay's" bob redell to the frontlines and talk to us about the drive up there to south lake tahoe. >> very smoky, especially along highway 50 w

here's the south lake tahoe airport. just to give you a point of reference when you drive into town, he drive right by it. so this is still not reaching quite into the urban part of south lake tahoe. but. it is still moving and that's a concern for firefighters that what they're trying to do is keep it on the south side of the community. so it doesn't get in there, but it looks like it's making a run for the nevada state line, which is right here. so here, state line with the casinos. here's south lake tahoe fallen leaf emerald bay. all that right now it looks like it's ok, but, you know, as the winds change and so on. it could be a different story. here's evacuation area that we're talking about. this is the map put out by the el dorado county sheriff's department and it shows all of the area under a evacuation order in red, in warning, in yellow. and again, we move into south lake tahoe and the entire area is covered in red. so everything in eldorado county that goes right up here to the plaster line yet tahoma all the

it is now only three miles from south lake tahoe. and heavenly ski resort in the path of these potential flames. in most of the lower elevations around south lake tahoe. we are seeing wind gusts 25 to 50 miles an hour. the temperatures will be cooler as we are perfecting some 70s. now let's bring it back to the bay area weather. we're on the other side of this story. it is improving our weather. the same weather system that is bringing the mountains. it is pushing that smoke off to the east. it will certainly switch it up. it pretty clear at the cloing. orinda. overall, i think wave good day coming our way for the start of september. we'll start it off chilly with that fog at the coast. it will begin with 54 in the south bay. the peninsula, 65. the tri-valley, 52. more of these low 50s over the north bay. the daytime highs cooling off another they have to, instead of the upper 90s inland like we had this past week. mid 70s in palo alto and over the bair to frag. my seven-day forecast will show that we do have more comfortable weather

no, not in south lake tahoe. you don't see anyone in anywhere around all the businesses are closed down here. so looks like a lot of people at least in this area have heeded that evacuation that mandatory evacuation order >> from talking to them and firefighters. do they seem optimistic that they'll be successful again today and keeping the fire from approaching south lake tahoe. ers are really just up to what the weather does. >> it's a funny thing talking to firefighters and i've talked to a lot of them about this. you know, we say optimistic, you asked them. you had a good night. looking for good new. you're you're confident about things tonight. the always hedge a little bit. they say, yeah, but we don't know because, you know the weather, the winds, the start gusting they start swirling and they create you know, these issues that they weren't planning that. they then have to deal with the fire changes direction. so they think they've got a handle. you know, they're worried about it, but they're they've been

tahoe, south lake tahoe. scott stevens is a professor of fire science at u c berkeley. and he says that while the state has done a better job clearing brush and thinning trees. it's not going to be enough to stop these flames. >> going to be sad. we're going to houses lost economies hit if it burns a big area of that part of the southern part of the basin. it could actually really have a detrimental quality to it quality. >> he says he doesn't expect the fire to move any farther north, then south lake tahoe. but he is concerned it's going to go further east into nevada and we already know at the border of a california nevada. it's like state line. those casinos are open for all of the evacuees and for firefighters. but the rest that county douglas county. they've been told that they should get out. they're just as story was reading. we've got a tweet now from cal fire with updated numbers. more than 200 acres. 2000 acres number 2, 104,000 acres and 20% containment. >> fire. yes, certainly growing and people i

driving into south lake tahoe. we're about 15 minutes outside of the city of south lake tahoe. you can see behind me, there's the fire that's burning in this canyon below me. today is going to be not a great day in terms of weather, at least from what we see in the forecast. we're under a red flag warning until 11:00 tonight and the winds, they could be gusting anywhere from 20 to 50 miles an hour. those are not ideal conditions for the firefighters. as you look there you can see the smoke is burning towards the left side of your screen unfortunately towards south lake tahoe. that gives you a sense of where the wind is blowing. south lake tahoe evacuated on monday and last night authorities issued new evacuation orders for the nevada side of the lake. the concern continues to be the direction of the fire and the fact that it could wind up on the backside of the popular heavenly ski resort which overlooks the lake. the people who are evacuate ready scared they might not have a home to go back to. >> it was nice to h

but like i said, south lake tahoe really looking good. you touched on it at the top of the broadcast. the fire seems be bypassing the south lake tahoe communities in the communities around it going towards the nevada state line. and as you mentioned, it is reached the nevada state line yet containment right now at 25%. but i imagine we could see a jump in that when we get some new numbers tonight for for now, reporting live at the counter fire. i'm chip yost. we'll sent it back to you. >> all right. thank you. chip fingers crossed for more containment. the flames, though, are slowly creeping still towards the south lake tahoe area. there is a major push tonight to protect heavenly ski resort in south lake officials there say they're focusing on protecting the places like kirkwood heavenly that bring people to heavenly employs hundreds of folks and welcomes. of course, thousands of tourists all the time. fire officials say they're concerned for every aspect of the resort even down to the chairlifts right now. fire crews are staging and one

fire is moving into south lake tahoe. scott stevens is a professor of fire science at u c berkeley. and he says, yes, the state is doing a better job of brush, clearing and thinning trees. but it's not going to be enough to stop the calendar fire. >> going to be sad. we're going to houses lost economies hit if it burns a big area of that part of the southern part of the basin. it could actually really have a detrimental quality to it quality. >> steven says he does not expect the fire to move any farther north, then south tahoe. but he says it's likely going to move further east in nevada. and we know that along state line in that county. douglas county they evacuated that, but they kept the casinos because that's where the evacuees are going and the yeah, but they are certainly preparing and has multiple major wildfires continue to burn across the state. we've got california republican lawmakers now holding a wildfire forum. >> in front of the state capitol held outdoors and they heard from several different private comp

dangerously close to south lake tahoe. and unfortunately the weather conditions today expected to be very challenging. there are namely two issues. one, this area is red flag warning until 11:00 tonight which means the conditions are ripe for the kind of extreme fire behavior that we've been witnessing from our vantage point here atop echo summit. also the humidity levels are low. the fuels are extremely dry. another issue, the winds expected to be gusty, forecast to be as high as 50 miles an hour. now we are along highway 50 at echo summit. this is about a 15-minute drive from south lake tahoe. and normally looking in that direction you'd be able to see the blue waters of the lake but not today. all you can see is smoke. and i don't know if it's obvious, but if you could see the smoke is blowing to the left side of your tv screen. unfortunately that is in the direction of south lake tahoe. it gives you a sense of where the winds are pushing. there is concern this fire could end up on the back side of the heavenly ski reso

but this south lake tahoe is a ghost town right now. and it is an incredibly eerie feeling, because we're just days away from labor day. this area is supposed to be pulsating with families, weddings, what have you, everyone is gone, everyone but firefighters who have been putting in so many hours, so much labor, physical work, trying to contain this fire. that is kind of where we were at. i can't tell you how eerie it was to be driving down south lake tahoe, and you just feel like the city is yours. you're the only person there. but it's covered in this smoke. it's covered in this ash that is making it very difficult to breathe for long periods of time. but it is a very sad thing to see, because this is a gem. this is an area of california, name me a more majestic lake in california. it is incredibly heartbreaking to see this community emptied out and all these homeowners possibly bracing for the very worst. >> we've seen one or two trucks pass behind you and that's about it. let's bring in henry herrera, cal fire chief, what are you wo

live in south lake tahoe. i'm chip yost. we'll sent it back to you. yeah. chip. a monday night. things were looking pretty bleak. the fire was charging towards myers and and southlake. >> seems like crews have done an extraordinary job to kind of keep it at bay is there a sense of optimism and how are these crews holding up the fatigue wise. >> fatigue was one of my colleagues was talking to one of the firefighters on the front line here is that one of the other big fires and the region for a number of weeks now has been at this one for a couple of almost a couple of weeks of this so yeah, they view that the but this is one of those things, you know, they kind know that's kind of in the cards when you sign up for this kind of thing, especially in recent years with the way wildfires have been going you know, tough job ahead of them. but they were when you see where the optimistic we talked to a captain with cal fire. a little earlier and he was a cautiously optimistic. he hedged a little bit. but anyway, so he

tahoe and south lake tahoe. the damage you can do. scott stevens is a professor of fire science at u c berkeley. nice as yes, the state has been doing a better job at brush clearing and thinning trees in tahoe recently. but he says unfortunately, it's not going to be enough you know, mitigate the damage that he thinks is still coming. >> it's going to be sad. we're going to houses lost economies hit if it burns a big area of that part of the southern part of the basin. it could actually really have a detrimental quality to it quality. >> now steven says that he does not expect the fire to move farther north. then south lake tahoe. but he does think it's likely going to move much further east into nevada and we're tracking it on our website. you can go to kron 4 dot com or scan. this qr code will take you right to the spot on kron 4 dot com where we've got all the information, the maps, the evacuation areas shelters that people can get help from. >> time now is a 10. still ahead on the kron 00:00am morning news a

tahoe airport, just four miles away here from south lake tahoe. now they've got this aggressive line set up here to try to hold this back from south lake tahoe, but, again, it's going to be a race against mother nature with the wind gusts within the fire zone. not only this fire. i wanted to show you this expansive view. gusty winds will impact the dixie fire and antelope fire. coming up, i'll have a look at our increasing wildfire days. >> it looks overwhelming. firefighters exhausted trying to protect homes and businesses on the edge of south lake tahoe. smoke is choking that basin, forcing crews to deal with this fire with little or no help from one of their most-effective tools, and that is aircraft. we were just talking about this and saw it on the map, melissa, what are the conditions around you, and what's the damage that you're seeing? >> reporter: it is bone dry out here. i mean, i'm constantly having to apply chapstick on my lips. it is so dry, you immediately feel it when you get to south lake tahoe. we're here in the community of meyer

the threat in south lake tahoe is growing by the minute tonight as the caldor fire burns into the tahoe basin. new evacuation orders have just been issued. the fire now less than 4 miles from the shoreline of south lake tahoe on the fire watch is where we start this tuesday night here on kron. 4 news at 6. welcome and i'm jonathan mccall. pam moore is on the sign and i'm ken wayne. we want to show you that satellite images just coming in from noaa, the national oceanic and atmospheric administration. you can see just how large the fire grew overnight in size. more than 20,000 acres. the fire has been burning. now since august 14th. let's take a closer look at where it is burning right now. the fire has now made over echo summit into the tahoe basin. now some 2 miles away from south lake tahoe and 4 miles from the shoreline. the city remains under a mandatory evacuation order at this hour. flames have burned more than a 191,000 acres. it's still just 16% contained. more than 400 homes have been destroyed. it continues to threaten more than 33,000 buildings to date 3 first responders and

unfortunately it was going south east, which is exactly toward south lake tahoe and so hopefully they can continue to hold that line. let's hear from cal fire about how intense the conditions have been. >> with those winds as ran through the forest to create what's called a active crown fire run where the fire actually goes from treetop to treetop when it does that, those amber cast that it throws out are going over a mile and distance. so that's what's propagating the spread of the fire right now is that long range. down when spotting of that amber cast. >> that's the whole reason we've seen acreage go up because those embers as he said, travel about a mile and then set up a whole new set of flames. and that creates a big set of issues for these fire crews. now at last check, the fire has burned 199,000 acres. and it's only 18% contained. we'll have to see if the acreage went up overnight. >> because of that wind. we know 34,000 structures still threaten this morning with 491. >> burned to the ground. so they are trying everything they can to stop the flames from burning any more str

it's moving east toward south lake tahoe. resort town that now sits empty, thanks to mandatory evacuation orders covid for. >> 2 summers. now is hurt businesses. and now to have the town completely shut down. it will hurt a lot of people. the fire's movement has been pushed by high winds and gusts expected to reach 40 miles per hour or more. those gusts have pushed flames up to 3 quarters of a mile ahead of the fire. >> creating new fires and hotspots to deal with this map from the national weather service shows the fires recent trajectory lake tahoe is on the top right of the map. the bright red marks show the hot spots created in the previous 24 hours. we asked a fire captain about what his comfort level was in being able to protect the communities in the fire's path. we're not comfortable. all out here and it's been like that for the last 2 weeks of this fire is shown itself to be very unpredictable. >> and very aggressive as it's moving through this drought stricken heavy timber and a lot of vegetation is so dry and easil

lake tahoe south like to hope that's augusta 18. miles an hour chair six at kirkwood. that's over 9000 ft. that's a wind gust of up to 28 miles an hour. some stronger winds just like yesterday at the higher elevations today, just not as windy as yesterday. so here is the details. here are the details in the red flag morning until 11 o'clock tonight. still some breezy conditions, relative humidity. we've been talking so much about the wind, but the moisture is key, because if we could add some more moisture increases values that would be a good that would be a good sign, but unfortunately it is still a very dry pattern. not it won't be changing too much in the forecast for tomorrow. here's the fire detection as we check out the maps here, i want to keep an eye on the orange boxes and the red boxes indicating recent fire activity. you and you can't see that run up to the out to the east, and in fact, it's becoming closer. looks like in the hillsides of the mountains south of south lake tahoe. in fact, it looks like that big that big m

most of those actually burning away from south lake tahoe. let's take a look at that smoke pollution level, which around south lake tahoe level was an aqi index of 700. to give you an idea, spare the air is down there, and this is where tahoe has been for the last two weeks. and more of this is going to be ongoing over the tahoe basin next couple of days, kind of in and out of that wildfire smoke at times. back to the bay area, you're seeing some unhealthy air around marin county. moderate air quality elsewhere. we'll have to watch that closely as more smoke in our case is coming down from the northwest coast into the bay area, bringing smoke at times as we head into that morning forecast. you see it there heading into your friday morning. the smoke advisory has been extended through friday. it may get extended on through labor day weekend. we'll watch that closely for you during the day tomorrow. another thing we're watching for fire danger, temperatures going up. not the big wind, but we're talking valley temperatures in the 90s to near 100

you evacuated south lake tahoe last night. how close was the fire, and what made you finally say, "i will leave?" because the order came down on monday and you did not leave then. >> drew was just talking about where the fire is located, as it came over echo summit, we are in the angora zone. during this entire evolution of the caldor fire, we have been watching it. residents of suffolk tahoe around the region for many years could not have imagined that firewood and golf state route 88 over to highway 50. each time the fire burned, we thought there was another block in the way that the fire couldn't get around, lovers leave, horsetail falls, across the granite by iron mountain, but it has. so we watched it. i've said this multiple times. is not our first rodeo. as we watched the angora fire happen, it took 45 minutes from start to finish before the house was burned over. this was a slow climb over tahoe before it hit echo summit. my wife and i had a plan, on how we would egress out of south lake tahoe. thenthenthenthenthen gue

but also its approach from the south and west towards south lake tahoe still calm for south lake tahoe itself. but once you head above lake level. that's where we're seeing those breezy conditions and with winds picking up later today, especially at lower elevations. this result of that potential of ever faster spread of the blaze itself. one of the reasons we do have this red flag warning in effect, a very dry winds gusting as high as 25 to 35 miles per hour today after 11:00pm, we should be seeing some calmer conditions, which is really good news. but today, yet another dry one. and yet another windy one bay area looking really good as far as air quality goes, all that green that you're seeing out there indicating good air quality. good day to step outside breathe in that good air look at temperatures in the 60's and 70's and all that sunshine up above really pleasant day for the bay. some mid 70's in areas like redwood city as well saying carlos each at 75 mountain view at 73 today. san jose and nice 77 and only a couple 80's livermore and antioch or 2 fairly 80 spots oakland at 66

south lake tahoe is just about 6 miles or so down highway 50 that will take you right into south lake tahoe where we're at here in myers. they already got some spotting today from that fire. so members that flew from the fire landed here started some spot fires the fire itself is just a few miles down highway 50 here. in fact, a little earlier today there was fire on both sides of the road. to give you a better picture of how the fire is moving in where it's moving. let's show you a map that the national weather service put out today. you see those bright red spots on the map. that's from a satellite view showing the hot spots. the map was put out this morning and show the previous 24 hours of hot spots. you see all the hot spots going eastward northeast towards lake tahoe lake tahoe is on the top right part of your map. you're looking at there now let's show you some video also from the last 24 hours of this fire. the big issue they've been dealing with. the thing that's been pushing that fire toward south lake tahoe is the winds right now. we're under a red-flag warning. the red fla

i'm in california south lake tahoe. this is where all of the emergency workers are staying right now in the casino hotel. this is sort of the brains of the operation. it is quite an operation. the caldor fire continues to burn out of control. this is new video in from echo lake last night. they have been dealing these erratic winds. that red flag warning still in effect. seeing gusts of up to 40 miles an hour at some points. you know those embers creating spot fires that firefighters are really rushing to keep up with right now. the fire has been continuing to move east as firefighters try to squeeze it from the sides to reduce it in size. you can see the flames in the background. that's something that's getting closer to the ski resort. they have been using their snow creating machines to try to keep the fire under control, add moisture to the ground. a little extra protection. more footage from the area of echo lake. firefighters working on back burns yesterday to try eropthe. they are being guided in part by military

keita whitworth, south lake tahoe. reggie: firefighters have so far been able to slow western progress from creeping up to the northwest of south lake tahoe. new video shows what they are up against. take a look at some of these flames engulfing entire trees in a matter of seconds. cabins turned to bear pieces of plywood. this is the intense battle to protect echo summit and part of myers. this morning our team coverage continues with amy hollyfield. she is with calfire's -- calfire's plan. amy: for those of you just waking up, wondering about south lake tahoe, it is ok. so far they have saved south lake tahoe. structures have burned that that they know of, but they are not willing to say that the fight is over, calling this fire very volatile. we have some video to show you from overnight. this is along highway 50, the national guard on the scene of this fire, looking very small next to those flames. firefighters are worried about another windy day. even as that fire moves east, they say the wind can take an amber and

we're about a 15-minute drive from south lake tahoe. if you look at the direction of the smoke it's moving to the left side of your tv screen. unfortunately that is towards the south shore of lake tahoe. south lake tahoe evacuated monday and last night authorities issued new evacuation orders for the nevada side of the lake. the concern continues to be the direction of the fire that could wind up on the back side of the popular heavenly ski resort. the people have evacuated and are scared they might not have a home to come back to. >> it would be nice to have one more night in our house and hopefully it will be here when we come back. >> there's lots of families and years and memories. it's absolutely devastating. i don't know. we're all very close. >> we're just happy that we're all together and safe right now. >> reporter: the caldor fire as you mentioned has burned around 200,000 acres. it's destroyed almost 500 homes and threatening about 35,000 more structures. containment right now unfortunately just at 18%. again, the weather not

all the homes in south lake tahoe. the south lake tahoe airport right here. there's the see the proximity, maybe 2 and a half miles from the fire line to there and hear those some of those spot fires we've been talking about better popping up just beyond the edge of the fire. so as those fires pop up, they really try to jump on those to prevent those from merging with the larger fire and that would enable the fire to make a better charge. east towards nevada. so the the fire is heading east trying to go north and that is one area of concern for firefighters tonight. the other couple areas kirkwood. you heard a chip yost mentioned how they're trying to protect the cabins and obviously the resort. a lot of kirkwood city area here and highway 88 runs through there. and they're trying to keep this fire to the north of highway 88 you see a bunch of little spot fires popping up just to the south of 88. so they're trying to douse those quickly so that they can control this thing and not allowed to jump highway 88 like it jumped a highway 50 earlier this week that we

he has more now from south lake tahoe. the immediate future of what happens and still evacuated south lake tahoe. i want clear air. you come to tahoe for clear air. it all depends on events in the surrounding mountains where the kalador fire still smolders and burns but threatens less as cal fire takes nothing for granted is this over? no, this is not over this isn't the end. it's not the beginning of the end. it's the end of the beginning and that still means plenty of work ahead. but we found optimism as forest service crews continue to clear trees along highways to fire breaks it seems like the fire is kind of running out of fuel in some areas. but not elsewhere especially in the heavy backcountry and even in christmas valley this morning. this is the kind of work that has firefighters frustrated sudden hot spots popping up like this keeping them busy with the winds that have been coming off the canyons. we're seeing embers that are moving up to three quarters of a mile in indie direction weather and fire potential all

. >> south lake tahoe at risk. we are tracking the battle against the magnifier -- mega fire. >> like you're coming back on in louisiana this morning. the struggle for hundreds of thousands of dealing with the aftermath. >> it is wednesday, september 1. you are watching >> is the hottest month in san francisco. while the rest of the country is cooling, we are doing the opposite. we are going to start september with our coolest and cleanest air in the seven-day cycle. you can see more cloud cover this morning. now through 7:00 this morning will be 48-50 degrees. you can see the clouds full of heart, except for along the coast -- fall apart, except for along the coast. mainly 60's elsewhere to a few 70's i went -- 70's inland. 70's are about as warm as we get. 60's elsewhere as we head towards 4:00. we do have the heatwave coming. >> the caldor fire's south lake tahoe is growing. it is already burned more than 300 square miles. amy: this it has destroyed 491 homes. we have some new video from overnight. this is along

lake tahoe. and, picturesque ski resorts like heavenly now obscured by smoke so thick it's hard to even make out the mountains. heavenly village, also empty except for a curious black bear wandering around near the gondolas. >> not a soul around, it was creepy, and sad, and scary. >> reporter: the casinos themselves are open, but due to the evacuations and closed roads, the slot machines are quiet, table games empty. the hotels themselves are playing a critical role for firefighters and other first responders. >> we are keeping the casinos and everything operational because we have fire assets that are staying here. this is our core, a protected area. >> reporter: as the crow flies, the fire is only about four miles from south lake tahoe, it's causing really bad air quality in this area, none of the firefighting aircraft have been able to fly on the basin side of things today, that's going to make things very difficult for fire crews overnight as these red flag wind conditions continue, but the h

of south lake tahoe is becoming closer. we're kind of looks like we're showing you they have only mountain range here near state line and looks like that activity. at least they're not spreading out toward this portion of the lake. right now. temperatures as we take a look at some of these sensors in the seventies and the winds not too bad around 4 to 14 miles an hour, checking out closer to kirkwood, there's that chair, six ridge observation. that's a that's an update right now gusting to 28 miles an hour. here's the forecast throughout the day. we'll pick it up at two o'clock this afternoon, and throughout the day, those winds will continue to pick up here we are at four o'clock temperatures close to 70 degrees, but the winds will continue to be the big problem out of the southwest at about 20 to 25 miles an hour and then gradually backing off decreasing tonight into it tomorrow morning, so that will be at least a step in the right direction later on tonight into tomorrow morning, we'll continue to keep in mind the condit

keeping it away from south lake tahoe. i will have more in my forecast in our cooler bay area weather in about 18 minutes. >> thousands of people in south lake tahoe evacuated. one popular hotel asked evacuees to leave their rooms this morning. why? a hotel employee says the hotel is only taking in fire crews and emergency personnel. melissa colorado spoke to evacuees who say they have nowhere else to go. she joins us live from south lake tahoe with more. >> reporter: right, janelle, the hotel behind me caters to tourists until recently it was catered to evacuees who came here with all of their belongings and pets. this morning, evacuees told me they got a bit of surprising news, hotel employees telling them we need you to give up your room. we need you to give up your room because we need to provide these rooms for firefighters for emergency personnel. yet again these evacuees having no choice but to pack up their stuff and head further east. >> i understand first responders have to have some where to stay, they have to s

tahoe and with south lake tahoe under mandatory evacuation bears have had free rein around town. but for that area of the fire. things are looking better. >> thursday. the reduced winds and better conditions allowed firefighters to light backfires on the outskirts of south lake tahoe. so crews are in here backfiring and they have tell conditions are just right to do this and all it is controlled fire taking away the fuels in front of the fire preventing the fire from being able to come in. >> and move in that direction. so in a sense, we're guiding the fire in a direction that we want it to go. >> and you want to be in control like that. chip yost reporting for us there. here's the latest map from cal fire. you see the vast burn zone. it started over here has grown to the north and to the east. this is highway 89 the fire jumped that. but they protected those homes in the christmas valley area below echo summit. that's still an area of focus. the fight now is spotting just to the east of where this line is. so they're trying to make sure those little spot fires where the embers t

in and around the south lake tahoe area. so stay tuned for that. >> from the area's local news station. you're watching the kron 00:00am morning news at >> good morning. sorry to say on this thursday morning of the caldor fire is doing more damage now. more than 600 homes are lost and you can see the flames as they chew through. now more than 200,000 acres. yeah. getting upwards of 200, 10,000. these pictures just give you a sample of the situation that they're dealing with the huge plumes of smoke. the. >> large fires that burned out areas as this fire continues to move in what northeast direction continuing towards the nevada border and it is now threatening the heavenly ski resort, which is where kron 4 sarah stinson has been reporting live for us all morning. showing us the smoke firefight and the concerns there. sara. >> darya. james. it's going to be another tough day for fire crews. you can see them here at the heavenly ski resort. they

he has more now from south lake tahoe. the immediate future of what happens and still evacuated south lake tahoe. i want clear air. you come to tahoe for clear air. it all depends on events in the surrounding mountains where the kalador fire still smolders and burns but threatens less as cal fire takes nothing for granted is this over? no, this is not over this isn't the end. it's not the beginning of the end. it's the end of the beginning and that still means plenty of work ahead. but we found optimism as forest service crews continue to clear trees along highways toeems liks kind of running out of fuel in some areas. but not elsewhere especially in morning.y backcountry and this is the kind of work that has firefighters frustrated sudden hot spots popping up like this keeping them busy with the winds that have been coming off the canyons. we're seeing embers that are moving up to three quarters of a mile in indie direction weather and fire potential all way into the question of off lake tahoe and this region might open u

south lake tahoe coming back to life right now. some people heading home hours after they got the news they had been waiting for. evacuation orders have been lifted. a live look right now. evacuees found out they can return. >> reporter: well, more and more people here at the emergency shelter are getting the word that they can return home. many of the people staying here are from south lake tahoe and they are elated. some are already packing up their belongings. there's a couple school buses behind me that are ready. people are lined up waiting to get inside so they can be shuttled back to south lake tahoe and back to their homes. now, we've seen evacuees from inside the shelter starting to make their way outside all afternoon and evening loading up their cars with pillows and suitcases. shwe spoke with tony mora who lives in south lake tahoe and says he is ready to pack his stuff up and head home with his family. >> sister just called us and said that tahoe got reopened. but all the stores are going to be closed for a while until

so obviously air quality around lake tahoe, especially right there in south lake tahoe is going to be. >> really, really poor. of course, evacuations have already occurred in those areas. so that's something that emergency management, those staying around to a fight that fire going to be dealing with health swear in the bay area, especially we've seen just the opposite skies. clearing out really, really nicely. this is your morning view it quite hour right here. you're north calhoun. the weather center forecast is going to be offering up some of our clearest and some of our coolest weather today and tomorrow. if you've been looking for both of those things today and tomorrow, your days to enjoy. so this is where we're at as far as air quality goes, westerly winds continuing to push that smoke out of the region. obviously there's that deeper red in your air quality map still for areas like lake tahoe portions of the northern california too, even right around mendocino county still less than ideal. as far as the air goes. but big improvements for most of the bay red flag warnings do rem

it's kind of knocking on south lake tahoe store on the south side. but firefighters say they're not letting it reach the homes there, at least not yet. but you can see it did jump highway 50 down just south of myers and christmas valley. it is burning just south of the residential areas of south lake tahoe kind of toward the heavenly ski resort. but it hasn't got there yet and firefighters trying to keep it that way. here's an infrared heat map that gives you another visual to show you where the blaze is. most intense, the darker, the color, the hotter, the flames in there in the middle with all those little orange dots. that is the the the head of the fire. that's where it's going right now. the burn zone, though, has decreased in the middle of the fire with the heat in the flames. so it is still actively pushing to the northeast. but again, is still staying just south. and we're talking just a few 100 feet in some cases of residential areas of south lake tahoe. >> there is some good news late today from the el camino sheriff's office. a mandatory e

remax thousands of people evacuating south lake tahoe, some went into california and some crossed state lines to nevada. in gardnerville, this evacuation center is closing down, that is for several reasons. one is that right now, parts of douglas county where we are are under evacuation warnings. the red cross moving the shelter in case those warnings increase, or change in any way. the other reason is what you are seeing here, all of this ash filled up on the ground in the sky around me, the air quality here is just extremely dangerous, not a good place for evacuees to be. i want to show you how hard the red cross is working to move this shelter, which, by the way, it will be moving to the reno sparks convention center if you are looking for the red cross, but, these volunteers have been moving, resources, food, water, shelters, into these trucks to get them into reno, where evacuees are currently being consolidated, a second truck behind me here, also full of resources as well, the red cross working hard to make sure this evacuees are safe. we spoke to several families who, of course,

the peak gusts we've seen in south lake tahoe where we are standing on the state line around 15 mph, so, not that great here, right at the state line, but if it's blowing 15 mph here, you can imagine what's going on along which tops. >> all right, katie, thank you. >>> chief meteorologist paul hagan tracking red flag conditions in that area. >> we mean a ann of low humilevels. let's start with the winds and the forecast model data has a good handle on the current windspeed because katie reported 15 mph in south lake tahoe along state line, forecast models indicating 17 mph, very close, into the higher elevations and we have the perimeter of the caldor fire outlined, you can see the 20 to 40 mph gust. with wind the clock forward into this evening and tonight, the winds are going to back off a little bit, but at the highest elevations they will still be strong. running in that 25 to 30 mph range into early tomorrow morning, and the winds pick up as we go through the day tomorrow, more 25 to 30 mph gusts with stronger possible during the afternoon, 35 to 40 mph. humidity levels are also

. >> south lake tahoe at the caldor fire rages on, evacuation orders for nevada. >> demanding saver classrooms, teachers and students holding a rally in san francisco. >> governor gavin newsom making a plea for more californians at to get vaccinated. >> now from abc 7, live breaking news. ama: thank you for joining us tonight. >> new evacuation orders for the caldor fire in the last few minutes, parts of upper kings berry, lower kings very like the -- village, lower oliver's entity downhill region. the stateline casinos are not included in the evacuation order yet. the fire is pushing to the northeast driven by high winds. all evacuation orders in south lake tahoe are in risk. -- at risk, the fire is it 16% contained in spreading. life coverage with wayne freedman live in myers. >> good evening, i talked about the potential of this fire and what they think it might do in the winds you were talking about our all around us, maybe as high as already miles an hour in the canyon behind it. it's not like a while of flames, it is -- wall of flames, it is like a prize fight. it is doing little jobs, t

reporting live in south lake tahoe. i'm chip yost. we'll send it back to you. >> appreciated ship, although the fire's containment is growing. it was 18% last night at this time this evening. it's up to 23%. the burn area is also growing. our ken wayne is joining us now live from the newsroom with a closer look at the fire zone. good evening. can't. good evening, justine grant, we've seen this fire grow from a under 200,000 acres at this time last night too. about 210,000 acres are close to that. so here's a look at the map of the burn area. >> we want to show you the problem area that this is what firefighters are focused on as we zoom in here this is eckel pass area highway 50 drops down to christmas valley heading into myers and then into the south lake tahoe center of town and you can see that this is an infrared map showing the hot spots all around the area. if you drive up there a lot, you know, a pioneer trail. that's it cut off a lot of people take getting off highway 50 takes you right into where the casinos are and so on. an

mayor tamara wallace from south lake tahoe. appreciate your time once again here on nbc. >> thank you. ♪ ♪ >>> well, firefighters are finding a around the basecamps there, so welcome distraction from what is happening on the front lines. our digital team put together a story all about it. find it on our website, nbcbayarea.com. click on "therapy dogs helping firefighters." it can help you as well. it is right there on the front page at nbcbayarea.com. >>> up next, the viral tiktok challenge being blamed for vandalism at some bay area schools. this is disheartening. what is going on here? we have the explanation and what tiktok is now doing in response. >>> and a secret show in san francisco. metallica playing in front of a crowd for the first time in two years. this is a live look at the line, the people waiting to get inside. we are going to tell you just the details of this surprise concert. stay with us. >>> welcome back to "nbc bay area news" tonight. some of the other stories we are watching at this hour, we continue t

i'm in california south lake tahoe. this is where all of the emergency workers are staying right now in the casino hotel.

in south lake tahoe this is highway 50 at ski run boulevard. winds have been such a problem the past couple days and you can see they. >> have not died down or at least they picked up again today. those flags. they're blowing on the right want to check in with our meteorologists dave spahr to get a look at where things will head tonight. dave. >> with just the winds but also the dry conditions that the winds are bringing. so that means that the red flag warning is going remain in place again until wednesday at 11 o'clock. now all of this is now pushing the smoke are negotiating. it kind of around things a little bit. a little different than yesterday kind of an island. the some poor air quality right around carson city. but this particulate matter is pushing off towards the northeast and therefore some decent air is coming back around. as you can see, that makes it into tahoe city going up to the north. you can see another pocket of some very bad air north of chico that lingers and then getting back to the bay area. it's moderate to actually lo

in south lake tahoe, hope remains. and cal fire says more than 40,000 people were evacuated in total. 22,000 from here in south lake tahoe. alyssa goard, nbc bay area news. >> one of the most thankful about the evacuation orders lifted, mayor of south lake tahoe. tamara wallace. thanks for taking the time this evening in midst of what you're going through. >> thank you. >> it's been a nerve racking stretch of days for your city. tell me how you're feeling right now? >> i'm feeling elated, my community is starting to repopulate. i have not repopulated yet because services are still limited and i didn't want to drain what limited services there are. and so we're going to wait a few days to go back home. but my community is starting to fill up again, so as you can see, welcome home. it's pretty amazing. >> absolutely. what was the low point for you? did you even have time to have a low point, when you thought your city might burn? >> absolutely. my worst nightmare in the 25 years i've lived in south lake tahoe was knowing

you see this is south lake tahoe proper. but there are spot fires that continue to jump ahead of this thing to the east towards nevada. you see these little pockets of fire. well, if they don't control those those will merge with the larger fire and that will really embolden this thing to make a hard charge towards nevada, especially if the winds pick up. so that's an area of focus. and then also as we head down south here a little bit. has been one of the main areas where resources have been sent done a great job of protecting kirkwood proper in those snowmaking machines, firing water. it kirkwood heavenly they were doing at sierra at tahoe and here's silver lake. that's a lake with a lot of granite around it. the fire hasn't gone. there. but today they have really made a priority of keeping the fire north of highway 88 here you see this is highway 88 along kirkwood and look at all the spotting in this region right here. so crews are trying to keep this thing from jumping highway 88 like it did highway 50 earlier. so that i

as well as just south of lake tahoe itself. south lake tahoe. the community up in those mountains. right above heavenly ski resort. belmont's is still looking at some breezy conditions we haven't seen winds picking up as much as yesterday, though, for the rest of the region, which is good news and a telltale sign of why that red flag warning was in deep canceled last night at 11:00pm just as expected, it would be looking out the side this morning. we do have the return of our moderate air quality here locally, which is an unfortunate part of the calmer winds. but we'll take it still. it's still going to be a gorgeous day to step outside. if you do have respiratory conditions do think twice about that. but overall, today's weather is a whole lot nicer than what we're going to be this weekend cooler and a little clear than the hazy or skies that will continue to be seen on over the next few days saying carlo 77 for your high today. beautiful one for the south bay we're staying in the 70's. no 80's in sight just yet. we do have so

well, as flames continue to threaten south lake tahoe. the community, his starting to come together to support one another. kron four's terisa stasio brings us that story. the caldor fire has forced a lot of people out of their homes, including the couple i just spoke with a just a short time ago right now i'm here in gardnerville. >> at the douglass community center that's been turned into a disaster relief facility for people who really don't have anywhere to go right now because there are no hotels because so many of them are have to remember that south u u- lake tahoe has a population of about 22,000. >> and then there's all of the other towns and cities around there that have evacuated. when i spoke with the couple, they shared with me this take a look at this picture. this is what it looked like behind their home as they took off in mid august. they were some of the first people affected by the fires and they tell me what it's been like for the past couple weeks to not know if their home was still standing. >> we the fire is coming