the entire city of south lake tahoe -- south lake tahoe an area south and west are part of the evacuation orders. ama: this camera shows evacuate -- evacuees leaving highway 50. we spoke with some who are heating the warning, while others are refusing to go. >> police and south lake tahoe telling neighbors to leave as the caldor fire moves closer, officers were going door-to-door. >> we are doing evacuation warnings. >> the mandatory evacuation creating epic traffic jams and all roads leading out. >> just trying to get out and safe. >> we just cleared the property of propane and gasoline powered tools. >> he evacuated his vacation house at camp richardson. the house been in the family since the 1940's. >> hopefully the fire never gets to us. it has nowhere else to go. it has to stay and burn. reporter: are you going to heed the evacuation order and leave? >> we are going to wait and see. reporter: one long tone -- long-term tahoe resident says he's not going. he says that the flames get close, he will be ready to leave. >> this is a big fire for lake tahoe basin. reporter: south lake taho

lake tahoe itself. the largest community in the whole time. so tahoe basin with more than 20,001 1000 residents as we zoom into the lake in the nevada border between south lake tahoe and douglas county. want to let you know within the last few minutes, douglas county officials have just issued an evacuation warning for people on the nevada side of lake tahoe that extends all the way from what you're looking at there, the border at state line all the way up the east shore of lake tahoe, too glenbrook. so that includes zephyr cove and those areas up to the washoe county light washoe county line on the east side of the lake. those are evacuation warnings. the actual. real issue is what's happening in that red area on your map. that is where the evacuation order is in effect right now and we'll keep you posted as things progress meantime for those in need of a place to go. here are the evacuation shelter sites currently open in eldorado county. the cameron park community center. >> green valley community church, rolling hills church. and for those with small animals, the eldorado county animal shelter is open in amador county. the shelter sites open our eve

the fire is now less than 5 miles from the city of south lake tahoe about 7 miles from the lake's shorere so smoke in the area that firefighting aircraft cannot work near the tahoe basin. we have the caldor fire has now burned more than a 177,000 acres to put that into perspective. that is larger than the entire city of san jose. >> containment dropped over the weekend. it's now at just 14% so far more than 600 buildings have been destroyed. 5 people have been injured. that includes 3 first responders will take a closer look now at some of the areas that are under those evacuation orders tonight. >> our ken wayne joins us now live from the newsroom with more on that can well, grant. vicki is pretty much all of eldorado county people have been fleeing south lake tahoe all day today. >> here is a closer look at the map of the evacuation area. it really starts just east of plaster ville in the area called camino and then this stretch here, you can see it. my cursor here. this is highway 15 all these circle read logos symbols are road closures. so you cannot get to south lake tahoe or anywh

the entire city of south lake tahoe -- south lake tahoe an area south and west are part of the evacuation orders. ama: this camera shows evacuate -- evacuees leaving highway 50. we spoke with some who are heating the warning, while others are refusing to go. >> police and south lake tahoe telling neighbors to leave as the caldor fire moves closer, officers were going door-to-door. >> we are doing evacuation warnings. >> the mandatory evacuation creating epic traffic jams and all roads leading out. >> just trying to get out and safe. >> we just cleared the property of propane and gasoline powered tools. >> he evacuated his vacation house at camp richardson. the house been in the family since the 1940's. >> hopefully the fire never gets to us. it has nowhere else to go. it has to stay and burn. reporter: are you going to heed the evacuation order and leave? >> we are going to wait and see. reporter: one long tone -- long-term tahoe resident says he's not going. he says that the flames get close, he will be ready to leave. >> this is a big fire for lake tahoe basin. reporter: south lake taho

the flames so close to south lake tahoe. tahoe ski resort and you can see the flames on that live camera. that's just how close this fire is burning south lake tahoe. we are looking at low relative humidity values. about 10 to 20% in that area. westerly to southwesterly areas, gusts up to 30 and you can see that wind flow. the westerly to southwesterly winds pushing the flames even closer to south lake tahoe. this is a big concern. quite alarming to see the flames on the south lake tahoe camera this morning. a red flag warning in effect. today into tomorrow. so, it's until 11:00 p.m. wednesday for the sierra, caldor fire, south lake tahoe, all under that red flag warning due to gusty conditions, low humidity values. for us here in the bay area, here is what you can expect. cleaner here, cooler temperatures because of the stronger on shore breeze. with he will warm it up as we look ahead to the labor day weekend with some smoke possible that could return over the weekend. now for today looking at good to moderate air quality t

lake tahoe. thousands of people already evacuated. we're going to be live in south gulf coast is recovering after the devastation of hurricane ida. we're going to take a look at conditions this morning live conditions this morning live from louisiana. ♪ when you're ready come and get it ♪ ♪ na-na-na-na ♪ ♪ na-na-na-na ♪ ♪ when you're ready come and get it ♪ ♪ na-na-na-na na-na-na-na na-na-na-na ♪ ♪ when you're ready come and get it ♪ ♪ na-na-na-na ♪ majestic mountains... ♪ when you're ready come scenic coastal highways... fertile farmlands... there's lots to love about california. so put off those chores and use less energy from 4 to 9 pm when less clean energy is available. because that's power down time. ♪ ♪ >> the bay area's local news station. you now with breaking news starting lake and the fire that's getting closer as the flames are moving in people moved out. yeah. all residents. there have been ordered to evacuate as that fire gets closer and closer. >> yesterday it was 4 miles away this morning just to. yeah. and we are seeing the flames now from ski resor

neighbors are encouraging one another to stay safe and stay informed reporting in south lake tahoe. i'm dan thorn. >> well, we're also hearing from a lake tahoe home owner who escaped before the caldor fire shut down roads in that area, although he's safe. he's worried some of his neighbors are still trapped. kron four's. dune has his story. >> it is difficult to imagine that this image of the caldor fire is from the towel. south web cam facing northwest from timber. cold pier as the fire continues to move towards the tahoe basin burning on both sides of eastbound highway 50, which is now close from peddler hill to the north of state route 89 you and your family. if you didn't leave when you when you when you what would be a situation up there. >> we probably be stuck in. i would imagine all the folks who are trying to get out in the basin and in that are trying to trying to leave the >> the el dorado county sheriff's mandatory evacuation order was issued sunday remains in effect monday bay area resident in south lake tahoe. homeowner shot picket didn't wait for the order. he and his

south lake tahoe remains calm. bit of an inversion that set up shop right over the lake itself that's allowed smoke to just settle into the lake basin of course, we have seen fire spread just to the southwest of south lake itself. this was yesterday. you're a visible satellite imagery of smoke from fires burning across the northern tier the state. all that smoke now being sent to the eastern side of the sierra. so really no new smoke settling here in the bay. and because of that, we're gradually going to continue to see improvements in our air quality. certainly a lot more green than we saw even yesterday. still a couple of yellow areas. but all in all, an easier day to breathe here locally. as for the sierra, we have red flag warnings in effect through 11:00pm tomorrow as winds continue to gust and we remain very dry up there. 60's for your daytime highs in san francisco as well as right along the coastline, temperatures for bayshore cities mostly in the 70's millbrae at 71. we've got foster city, a very beautiful

>> reporter: well, as you can see south lake tahoe is sxemt for good reason. this fire is moving quickly and it has been the past couple of days. fire crews are worried about the tahoe basin and all small communities in between. tonight there is a huge glow in the sierra. flames moving fast into small towns near south lake tahoe. fire crews are here taking a stand. the fire raced over echo summit into christmas valley and there are homes scattered in those hills. crews taking spot fires, protecting homes. we watched firefighters turn on sprinklelers as form of protection in some areas. the mayor said she realized early people had to evacuate. she's worried about keeping homes and businesses safe from looters. >> we've got heavy patrols in the area that have been evacuated. >> reporter: earlier today there was a line of cars leaving the area. everyone leaving at the same time. >> we have fire and police people, police person frel all over the state. 300, ferry hundred miles away. >> reporter: john rice is the general manager of the sierra tahoe resort. he's a sk

reporter melissa pearlman is in south lake tahoe with the latest. >> reporter: 21,000 people living in south lake tahoe all told to get out and mandatory evacuations. the good news this afternoon traffic is cleared out. the bad news the wind is picking up and that is the biggest concern. the fire catching crews by surprise and the winds will make it a challenge for this evening as crews try to slow the spread. we know that cabins and infrastructure droid. and the cell tower in town burned overnight and not clear whether everyone in town is getting the mandatory evacuation orders on their phone. the sheriff's office according to cal fire is going door to door and making sure that everybody is out. and as you said there are limited ways to get out. just 15 east towards north shore and cal fire has been aggressive about getting the evacuation orders out early because of that. we spoke to some people at 89 and rubicon road. >> we thought we had a lot of stuff to bring out. >> just a suitcase or two. a couple of boxes. >> have you been through this before? >> not so far. >> we have a look a

the chief of the city of south lake tahoe. want to express our grad tied to the eldora fire department. as chief stevenson said -- >> we have been listening to this live briefing. the fire department and as well as south lake tahoe police and fire. the fire has moved to highway 88 and moving to kirkwood and going to christmas valley but not threatening structures. 22,000 people from south lake tahoe successfully evacuated and some spending three hours on highway 50 to get out. >> it was quite a mess to get out of the city because that was the only way to get out. everybody that lived in the south lake tahoe area was able to get out and they did say that next couple of days are going to be critical because of the conditions there and in a precarious situation but they are ready. >> and moved the emergency command center to the nevada border. a couple of casinos cooperating and giving them the space. that's the latest on the caldor fire. we will monitor that because it is changing hour by hour. >> switching gears to the covid ou

lake tahoe. this is pretty near fallen leaf lake a perspective looking towards the south right here. look at the bottom of this imagery. you can actually see some of those homes right there. and if you look a little bit further in the distance. those lights out there that some of the blaze right there. that's it makes its approach a little bit closer to these more populated areas in this gives you just perspective on how close to a lot of these mountain cabins this fire has gotten its obviously resulted in plenty of destruction already. but his approaches south lake tahoe myers fallen leaf lake. we're going to see more and more of areas just becoming more and more threatened because it's a southwesterly wind that is pushing on in to the region. that includes the bay area. but it's that same wind that is resulting in the spread of this fire to the northeast around lake tahoe is actually helping us out temporarily here in the pay, helping to steer smoke out of our direction. one of the reasons we have seen such improvements in our air quality. something that's certainly true this morni

live in south lake tahoe, thom jensen, nbc bay area news. >> look at the fire from several vanltage points. right here at tahoe, hazy, dark and yucky air and left, a plume of smoke. chief meteorologist jeff ranieri. jeff, thom was talking about high, gusty winds, what are the conditions? >> really the worst conditions on the map here, that's why the evacuations are in place. if you know one living there and deciding to stay even asked to evacuate, may want to urge them to think twice. look at red flag fire warnings. include the caldor fire and dixie and antelope fires. mountain gusts 20 and 50 out of the southwest, highest peaks could gust over 50 miles per hour and humidity 5% to 15%. show you the fire zone. there's a lot happening but focus in on the growth, mostly eastern side of the fire, kooib urz to twin bridges. gusts tonight, 20 to 50 and seeing same forecast through tomorrow. closer, meyers in jeopardy, six miles south of south lake tahoe. next 48 hours with the fire warnings in place. >> part of the reason that sierra ski resort survived is because of this. using snow making mach

myers, south lake tahoe. the winds increase during the day tomorrow, out of this direction, it looks like the push will be near echo summit and potentially down south of south lake tahoe. that is the way the winds will be accelerating. 25 mile an hour winds. you can see the smoke output increasing, as you apply more wind to the fire, it ramps up intensity, and increases the rate of spread. the location for the caldor fire and they are under the red flag warnings, the fires making a run to the east more likely, and enhanced by the drought, dried out enhanced dry fuels, increasing winds and low humidity. we will look at when the conditions improve, and cooler changes in our forecast coming up. >> talking about all the contingencies, i am hearing, maybe it will skirt south lake tahoe and spare that we are checking out the fire. download the nbc bay area app. get the information sent to your phone. we are following developing news out of afghanistan, more explosions rocked kabul don't. five rockets fired at the k

let's get a closer look at how close this is to south lake tahoe. it's just seven miles, and it's now descending into the tahoe basin. it's approaching those areas where there are a lot more cabins, places we've all visited frequently and now looking at it moving closer to the south lake tahoe area as we're getting a stronger wind picking up. we've also had some of that smoke coming into the bay area over the weekend with those spare the air alerts that were issued and now we are seeing still some moderate air quality. these little dots here indicate current air quality sensors showing some moderate air quality for the inland areas. it has been improving for san francisco and along the coast. we're dealing with the fires as well as watching what tropical storm ida is doing over the gulf coast. this made landfall yesterday as a category 4 hurricane. pushing up a big storm surge, that's that big wall of water out ahead of the hurricane. now it's dumping lots of heavy rain as it continues to move those heavy rain bands over new orleans into mississippi

lake tahoe. right now bart memorial hospital in south lake tahoe is being evacuated, though notes the city of south lake itself. cal fire saying this fire more aggressive than they anticipated. this is the evacuation map, the areas in red are under mandatory evacuation orders, now including christmas valley, echo summit and myers, kirkwood ski resort. the areas in yellow under evacuation warning. that means folks need to be ready to get out. of equal concern dots on the screen we will zoom into at some point, the red and white icons, the roadways close. i-80 the only way out to the west. highway 50 is also closed after the fire jumped the highway near i couldber and a large portion of 88 is shut down. cal fire said nearly 500 homes were destroyed along with 11 businesses, more than 21,000 other structures are under threat. in the two weeks just two weeks since the fire started, the caldor fire burned 168,000 acres and it is contained just about 13% of its perimeter. these are thermal images from cameras that firefighters are using in order to see through all of the really thick smoke. on the left t

with the counter fire threatening the town of south lake tahoe. thousands of people have evacuated and that includes the mayor as well. from what? we're joined now by the mayor of south lake tahoe tomorrow, wallace timber. good to see you. thank you for joining us. it did we get the sense that you didn't you didn't think that this fire was was probably going to reach the tahoe basin or the town of south lake tahoe. i'm wondering how surprised you were when that evacuation order came and how tough was it for you and your family to back up and leave? um i actually, um, didn't believe it would reach the basin. however it it was a realization that came over a few days. i think, starting late saturday night and into sunday, um it became more of a realization that this was going to happen. what did you think of the way the evacuations unfolded? obviously, we saw these very dramatic images of traffic gridlock there along highway 50 and some of the other other major highways. um but i know the city council just a few weeks ago had discussed its evacuation

thank you. >>> now we want to bring in cheryl hurd, she's in south lake tahoe with another update on the situation there. >> reporter: there's a huge glow in the sierra, flames moving fast into towns in south lake tahoe. fire crews are here taking a time. the fire raced over echo summit into christmas valley and there are homes scattered in those hills. crews chasing spot fires, protecting homes. we watched firefighters turn on sprinklers as a form of protection in some areas. south lake tahoe's mayor says she realized early people had to evacuate. she's worried about keeping homes and businesses safe from looters. >> we've got heavy patrols in the area that have been evacuated. >> reporter: there was a line of cars leaving the area. everyone leaving at the same time. >> we have fire and police people, police personnel from all over the state, 300, 400 miles away. >> position the snow guns to blow water on the building. >> reporter: john is the general manager of the sierra at tahoe resort. he had to evacuate twice in two days. >> i've had to rebuild when i lost a house in an earthqua

. >> now crews have launched an effort to keep the flames reaching south lake tahoe. right now all of south lake tahoe and the surrounding communities remain under evacuation orders. >> the fire has grown to nearly 300 square miles. more than 33,000 homes, businesses and other structures are at risk. tens of thousands of people left the area yesterday in a slow moving evacuation. evacuation warnings are now in effect. weather conditions not helping. >> the winds were picking up late last night blowing the fire toward the lake. >> that hillside is cooked. >> 77-year-old will cattrell waited for the last minute to leave his home, turning on the sprinklers and packing up what he could. >> my whole medical home office where i worked for the last year is now squeezed into the back of the car. >> as flames surrounded his neighborhood. >> i see now says bailout. >> they have called in extra strike teams to try to protect the homes and businesses in the tahoe basin. >> this is the number one priority in the nation for wildfires right now. we are able to get the resources we ne

we will take you to the northeastern side of the fire, closest to south lake tahoe. that is where a lot of the action is at this hour. . you can see highway 50, sierra tahoe, echo summit. then south lake tahoe. the reason for all of this concern, overlay the current winds now with this fire. you can see them coming from the southwest to the northeast. that is going to push that fire potentially down into the basin over the next couple of days. that is why firefighters are so concerned. red flag warning now in effect for the calder fire and much of northern california. winds gusting as high as 35 miles per hour. right now, we have the southwest winds. we do it all again tomorrow afternoon. the winds are fierce, gusting well over 30 miles per hour. ama: thank you for that update. aerial footage shows the intense conditions firefighters are up against. you can see it is just a wall of smoke and this flames too. officials are giving an update as the fire bears down on south lake tahoe. abc 7 news reporter laura anthony is live in the newsroom with that part of the story.

she is live for us in south lake tahoe. ut bridget, you know, if the situation is how's it looking out there right now. >> well, here in south lake tahoe, even see the lake behind him and visibility is very low and worsening by the hour. take a look at the thick layer of smoke that is blanketing the mountain ridge here. but here's the real story highway 50, which is usually a very busy mode of traffic in and out of this busy tourist city. but as you can see, not many cars on the road at all. more like a ghost town and the caldor fire is coming from the southwest. and you can see just how ominous it is. >> really thick layer of smoke coming from behind the street later here and it's coming from the southwest from the pacific pushing toward the northeast. and that is why there are mandatory evacuation orders in place for the entire city of south lake tahoe. and it does look based on the traffic situation that people are heeding those orders. take a look, though, at what the traffic situation look like. just a couple of hours a

the entire south lake tahoe basin is under evacuation orders. let's take you out to a live chopper video now of the caldor fire. one final ridge stands behind this fire and the entire south lake tahoe region. you can see sun setting near the sierra. the fire continues to burn along highway 50. homes, businesses and other structures are gone. this is a shot near the homes at sierra at tahoe resort. some are gone while others have been saved. and that kind of hopscotching the of the fire line, we've seen this kind of behavior in the prior years. about 20,000 people were told to leave today. here's the latest evacuation map, it includes all the communities up to the nevada state line. if you want to explore this map further, we've posted it on our website. with highway 50 closed in terms of westbound, the main route was highway 50 eastbound. major roads and right there along the highway, major gridlock with a lot of backups throughout the afternoon. >> we knew it was coming. the winds, it just creates its own wind. >> i have a daughter and a son in

those evacuations issued for lake tahoe, south lake tahoe, the latest coming up for you in just under three minutes. >>> breaking news we continue to follow this morning, as thousands in the south lake tahoe basin area now under some sort of evacuation order. the caldor fire leading evacuation orders. bart memorial hospital is being evacuated and following all the breaking news coming into our newsroom. kris sanchez is tracking it all and join us with a live report in about 15 minutes. let's check in with meteorologist kari hall because all that smoke from that region has been such a great concern as well. what about the weather conditions? >> laura, take a look at this live picture that we have at sierra tahoe. my heart skipped a beat seeing this live picture this morning. we were hoping to get more containment over the weekend so it wouldn't go into the tahoe basin but that's not happening. we have more evacuations in that area because of the gusty winds that have been picking up. so all of this is the new red flag warning that's been issued for today and tomorrow. it's really dry o

this is huge for north lake tahoe, south lake tahoe, everywhere in the region. >> absolutely. even the lake tahoe visitors association -- >> chris, hang tight, we'll get your microphone squared away and come back to you in a second. >> all right, where are we headed next? let's talk about >> i'll take it from here, jessica. some of the newest covid cases arriving by floating underneath the golden gate bridge. a foreign cargo ship issued an sos asking for help dealing with the virus. >> what's going on, melissa? >> reporter: pier 26 right now looking pretty empty. this was the site of a lot of activity. paramedics helping out six crew members from a cargo ship still anchored in the bay, and they reported testing positive for covid-19 and needed medical help. our camera was actually able to capture the moment that three of those six crew members disembarked from a fire boat earlier this afternoon. the crew members were all wearing face masks and life jackets. the unload cargo ship is called the "global striker", and it's based out of the philippines. paramedics boarded the cargo

the fire is even threatening the containment lines at highway 50. 56,000 people had to flee south lake tahoe and the surrounding area. 186,000 acres are already burnt and those flames continue to move into the small towns leading into south lake tahoe proper. as evacuees were getting out some of them were leaving sprinklers on hoping they would have something to come home to. we talked with a firefighter who told us the scenic terrain is part of the problem and the reason that firefighter can only do so much. >> i wish we could say attacking it was what we're doing. now we're kind of following it and trying to protect those that are in the way, move people out of the way. >> so the images here on your screen are from matthew henderson who was in the evacuation area. today there could be more people trying to get out as evacuation warnings are now in effect extending into nevada. the evacuation areas crosses the state line and includes part of douglas county, not the casinos there. you may have seen long lines of evacuees in traffic trying to leave. there's no need to wait for a warning to be

this is the reason why 56,000 people had to flee south lake tahoe and the surrounding area. the tahoe basin as flames moved in nearby and people packed up, some leaving sprinkler on hoping they would have something to go back to. in the last hour, firefighter dominic toledo told us the scenic terrain is part of the problem. >> i wish we could say attacking is what we're doing. right now we're following it and trying to protect those that are in the way, move people out of the way. >> reporter: these are images from photographer matthew henderson of the fire in those evacuation areas. today, there could be more people trying to get out as evacuation warnings are now extending into nevada. you may have seen long lines of evacuees stuck in traffic trying to leave and that is a good reminder there is no need to wait for a warning to become an order before getting out. a warning to looters from the mayor of south lake tahoe says there's plenty of law enforcement in the area as well. >> thank you very much, kris. >>> here's a new video of one bay area viewer sent us from outside hi

prompteduation order for south lake tahoe and student communities. it's been a lot tremendous amount of work over the weekend with all of the different local state and federal partners working in the south lake tahoe area going out and knocking on doors making sure that all those those folks knew the evacuation zone extends report. of three counties el dorado alpine and amador with the westbound direction closed evacuees are being told to head along highway 50 east toward nevada the evacuation includes barton memorial hospital in south lake tahoe and comes just as a red flag warning is going into effect for the northern sierra as big as it is with at least 177,000 acres burned the kaldore fires still smaller than the state's other large inferno the dixie fire, which is consumed more than hundred seventy thousand acres the second largest fire in california history. we haven't had fires burned from one side of the sierras to the other we did with the dixie now we have with the call door two times in our history and they're both happening this month. so

the caldor fire is five or six miles away from south lake tahoe. about 22,000 people are scrambling to leave town. that includes the casinos on the south shore. and hurricane ida trapping people in floodwaters in coastal louisiana shattering the power grid there. let's start with the destruction in the wake of that hurricane. search and rescue efforts continue after this powerful category 4 storm roared across the coast. right now more than a million people are without power. so far, one person is confirmed dead. sadly, that death toll is expected to rise. let's bring in liz mclaughlin who joins us in new orleans. what's happening around you this evening? >> reporter: raj, officials are only beginning to assess the impact of hurricane ida. here in new orleans we've got debris lining the strees. a massive tree behind us in jackson square, a famous part of new orleans, just snapped in half like a twig. and that's just a fraction of the damage that could be seen across the state from this deadly storm. a massive search and rescue operation is under way

those evacuation orders and warnings now in effect for folks to south lake tahoe. and in the tahoe basin. so if you have plans to go up there. a lot of folks were thinking about doing that for labor day weekend you likely will not be able to go up there and we know that a number of highways in that area have already been closed for a number of weeks because of those fast-moving flames as well. and there's some concern about what is next for the area. a red flag warning starts at 2 o'clock tomorrow. and last until. >> tuesday night. so what will that do for the fire. what's check in now with our meteorologists mabrisa rodriquez. yeah. for the caldor fire burn area that red flag warning going to go into effect at 11 o'clock. >> monday morning. so a little bit earlier than the one at south lake tahoe, which begins at 02:00pm on monday. so let's take a look at what you can expect. as you could see, most of the sierra shaded in red. that means imminent fire danger. we're tracking very dry conditions out there with those southwesterly winds and where that cow counter fire

bridget. >> here in south lake tahoe. bility as we're sunday and the winds are picking up those southwest winds coming from the pacific ocean northeast all the way to the lake. this is lake tahoe. a beautiful tourist so many people have grown to love. take a look at highway 50. this is normally a very busy stretch of road that gets in and out of south lake tahoe. and it really looks like a ghost town very few cars on the road as people are heeding those mandatory evacuation orders that went into effect this morning urging people to get out before the wind picks up and the caldor fire. this is the concern is coming from the southwest. take a look at this tree line you can barely make out the mountain ridge behind it. that is where the caldor fire is burning right now is about 5 miles away from where we're standing right now. and the wind is going to make the difference as to how fast that fire moves. but take a look at the gridlock from earlier today as the 20,000 people who live in south lake tahoe race to evacuate as the

that's why they're doing aggressive evacuations in south lake tahoe what two firefighters have to do to get a handle on this fire. and how concerned are you that it could hit south like tahoe. my understanding is that it's only five. six miles away. well obviously the incident commanders and they talked about this before they're gonna be very, very aggressive with their evacuation orders. that's what we're seeing for south lake tahoe. that was not an easy decision to make given that the holidays coming. people are heading there. they want the business, but they recognize that this is something they don't want to take any chances with. we're going to get people out of the way we don't have the resources necessarily to stop this. we might be able to channel it, but we've got to get people out of harm's. way, mark can they bring in the 7 47 or the d. c. 10 tanker jets to stop to rather to spread that fire retardant over the fire. i mean, i don't know if i've seen those planes flying over that fire yet. in some cases, whether may permit prohibit that there was an inversion layer. so the f

powering possibilities. threat of the cal door fire to south lake tahoe. ple in that area are under evacuation orders tonight as the wind pushes the kaldor fire toward the tahoe basin. for the first time, the mandatory evacuation area includes people in the tahoe basin and amador county. the main medical facility in south lake tahoe barton memorial hospital has evacuated patients to other facilities out of harm's way. many of south lake tahoe is 22,000 residents sat in a long line of cars on highway 50 trying to get to safety. we will again take you to that live news conference from cal fire just as soon as it begins. for more now, right now on the situation up there in the tahoe area, we are joined by captain keith wade, who is assigned to the cal door fire captain weighed the situation there seems to be going from bad to worse. what is the biggest challenge right now facing fire crews? so right now, today it's been the weather, but this fire has proven to us that it's unpredictable and a lot of the issues have been is not just the weather, but the terrain

tahoe paradise. that's a few miles south of lake tahoe. take a look at the flames cresting echo summit this was last night along highway 50. firefighters were trying to keep it away from that area. they are were not able to do so. these flames burning just south of meyers very close to homes. firefighters still working very hard to try to protect the property that they have now that they have been able to evacuate the people that's always life first, property second. that is why they have -- evacuated tens of thousands of people. >> our priority always going to protecting life first. when the public is in the area before we start fighting fire we will make sure that's public is safe and out of the area and it complicates our job having folks still in those areas because it then limits our ability to fight fires because we are actually trying to get them safely out before we engage. >> at this point none of those evacuees know when they are be able to go home or what they will be able to go home to. in the meantime many of them are in these

reggie: an emergency and south lake tahoe, warnings. here is a map. you can see lake tahoe in the middle, the yellow area is under evacuation warnings. red means a mandatory evacuation. reporter amy hollyfield is in with the latest. amy: firefighters are concerned saying the fire shows no signs of cooling down. barton memorial in south lake tahoe has decided to evacuate, the hospital moving all of the patients to a nearby surgery center. south lake tahoe under an evacuation warning. this is quite a shift from what we heard last week. firefighters said they felt like they had turned the corner. firefighters found themselves on the defensive this weekend. some homes burned along highway 50 near the town of myers. longtime residents say this is the worst they have seen it. >> it just hurts. we love this town we don't want to see it burn. >> the concern is the increased temperatures, the highest date -- the hottest day of the fire fighting and the humidity low. amy: firefighters expect high wind today which could been an increase in fire activity. help has

we do begin with the latest developments out of south lake tahoe. more evacuations were ordered just a few hours ago. this is new video here of the traffic backup in south lake tahoe. of all the people trying to get out of town. the calendar or fire burned through twin bridges and echo summit just last night and is now inching toward south lake tahoe this afternoon, firefighters protected the sierra at. lake tahoe ski resort overnight from flames. i came very close to ski l other buildings. ktvu xem agus joins us live this afternoon from the newsroom with the latest from cal. fire. emma mike. i did get an update from cal fire just in the last hour, and the battalion chief said traffic leaving south lake tahoe area will be bad, and that's because this morning more regions of el dorado county. and the south lake tahoe area removed from evacuation warning to evacuation order residents to the north, the east and west of highlight 50 were ordered by cal fire to evacuate this morning around 10 a.m. it's likely the reason so many cars on highway 58 ski run

the fire is now less than 5 miles from the city of south lake tahoe. >> about 7 miles from the shoreline of the lake. the skies are so smoking in that area that firefighting aircraft just can't get to work near the tahoe basin. so now let's get to the evacuation orders. this is a map of the region from the el dorado county sheriff's office, everything you see in red is an evacuation order. this now includes all of south lake tahoe animal bay and myers just to name a few of the locations included. >> it also includes tourists and residential areas such as heavenly stateline tahoe keys to whole island. these you and to houma. >> if you live in those areas and have not left. officials say you need to leave now. emergency officials remind everyone to check for evacuations to as the situation is quickly changing karma dickerson from our sister station in sacramento has the latest on the fire. driving towards the orange glow of the flames this morning was pretty terrifying as we came closer and closer to the caldor fire. but as the sun came up, it went from frightening. >> the devastating as w

people evacuated south lake tahoe yesterday. firefighters right now digging in for some structure protection now earlier today, on mornings onto the nine, the south lake tahoe city manager told us the evacuation yesterday very successful. the number one concern has been to protect the public health, safety and welfare of our residents. believe we successfully achieved that yesterday with successfully evacuation. uh about approximately 25,000 people. uh i take my hat off to our law enforcement agencies in the unified command. to do that, in a graceful manner. it did have some backups on us 50, but the coordinated effort kept people safe. and now the firefighters are allowed to do their job more than 53,000 people have been evacuated from their homes across three different counties and some communities just across the state line in nevada have been warned to get ready to leave at a moment's notice. governor newsom says the kaldor fire is the number one priority in the state, he says every resources being used in an effort to contai

south tahoe, right? south tahoe? >> south tahoe, stateline nevada, here in the casino corridor. i'm on the nevada side with the casinos. south lake tahoe is the other side of this stateline. that has been evacuated since yesterday. kristen: can i ask you, do you know if everyone has gotten it? obviously south lake tahoe, we see it packed with people late summer before labor day weekend. are you convinced everyone has gotten it safely? >> this is a big weekend for us coming. this was one of our largest tourism weekends. but it is not going to happen, unfortunately. concerts have been canceled, we've got everything looking like we are evacuating. we are going to be looking at evacuations here in the stateline area for nevada. and kingsbury grade here shortly. the fire is moving aggressively. it is a firefight. that is why they call it fighting fires. we are battling mother nature on multiple fronts. the wind has not been with us, the terrain has not been working with us. we have -- gravity, something a similar's gravity, trees have been falling and releasing embers forward of the fire, advancing it greatly. we are working hard to c

flames are moving east in creeping closer to south lake tahoe. >> flames. also moving south as well highway 88 now closed that dew drop because of safety concerns in the last few hours. new evacuation orders have been issued for folks living in parts of al pond and l mode or college hears a look at what we know right now about the fire. >> it's about 10 miles away from south lake tahoe. and so far it has burned more than 156,000 acres destroying more than 650 buildings and threatening more than 18,000 more. this fire has already injured 2 people and 3 firefighters. and tonight it is 19% contained. we're going to show knicks. talk with fire crews on the front lines working around the clock to try and save as many homes as possible. >> as you can see right behind me moving through the hills. there's a lot of gusty wind up here right now and we knew today was going to be the hottest day of this fire for the last 2 weeks. it's been burning. >> massive flames are threatening camp sacramento edging close to the cabin as firefighters have been working hard to say t

zones can what do you see again taking grant about 22,000 people, as you just mentioned, live in south lake tahoe alone. >> that's the biggest community on the lake. it's only one community, though. that's under the evacuation orders. all the areas you see here in red on this map are currently under mandatory evacuation orders and we're getting closer now to the lake area, seeing to see what we're talking about. the areas in yellow over here on the left side of your screen. those are evacuation warning areas. and we also want to point out that this side of the lake, the nevada side. this is douglas county here right next to the california border. this is state line here, of course, where the casinos are. this area has now just been given an evacuation warning. so this would be a yellow area, but we don't have that because that's a douglas county law enforcement putting that information out here are the evacuation shelter sites that are currently open in eldorado county. that cameron park community center. the green valley community church. rolling hills church and for those who have small animals

it is headed toward myers and unfortunately south lake tahoe. rtunity for high fire danger is why we did have the evacuation orders in place. yesterday, people relieving tahoe boulevard was a parking lot. we sat in traffic for more than one hour. people did on of the evacuation warning, which is wonderful. it gives cal fire the opportunity to get resources in and fight this fire. but the terrain and topography has been an ongoing problem because you can't to get in the resources you need to get in because sometimes the elevations are too high. sometimes, that has been the problem with this fire that continues to grow. as the caldor fire continues to bear down on south lake tahoe, these wins are going to be gusty today. they are going to be gusty overnight tonight and also during the day tomorrow. let's not forget, labor day weekend is coming up. that is normally when south lake tahoe -- everyone is here and having a good time. this year's labor day, it is going to be one we will all soon forget. that is a look at what is happening here. reggie: w

the problem is as we've seen, it has jumped over the highway and now is burning up in on to south lake tahoe. so we've got portions of eldorado in alpine county. now under these evacuation orders as the fire continues its march in fact, it's close enough now it just 4 miles away from south lake tahoe. and we know very well here in the bay area. a fire can cover for miles. in one night. if the winds are strong enough and that's why everybody up there so worried and why a lot of people now have already evacuated. oh, yes, some even without the orders way too close for comfort. so they're getting out of south lake tahoe and. >> taos telling tourists don't come either. obviously stinson is live in the newsroom with more on the firefight and evacuations. sarah. >> dart. it's been a rough one. i just spoke with cal fire on zoom and they are very concerned about today's fight against the caldor fire. the weather is not helping fire crews out at all. the caldor fire grew 9,000 acres overnight. fire crews only gained one percent more of containment as the wind continues to push those flames east towa

an smoky conditions from the caldor fire are impacting tourism in south lake kron 4 says the and spoke with a south lakes. south lake tahoey official who is advising visitors to put a pause on their vacation plans. >> if you are thinking about traveling to south lake tahoe while the caldor wildfire rages in eldorado county. you're being advised to reconsider we are monitoring the situation and those that are looking to come here be advised that the air is very unhealthy. >> and it is not recommended at this time. south lake tahoe city manager joe irvin speaking via zoom from the city's emergency operations center. and just today i declared a proclamation of a local emergency in an effort to help assist in the response efforts that may be needed. the smoke-filled air combined with the potential threat from the wildfire are also having an impact on the usually bustling summer tourism season in fact, officials at the lake tahoe travel authority say that local hotels are seeing many cancellations and are currently at limited occupancies, a representative that air bnb is in crown for the statement that reads, quote, air bnb. t

this is a live look highway 50 at ski run in south lake tahoe. you can see a long line of cars heading east on the highway. they are trying to get out of the area. as i just mentioned, much of the area is is going to be under evacuation. so residents there if you haven't evacuated or haven't started to evacuate. it's probably a good idea to start getting your things together and head on out. and just a little while ago, state emergency management officials gave an update on the state and federal response to wildfires burning statewide. our capitol bureau reporter ashley zavala joins us live with what's next in the fire fight. ashley. >> yes, in a state leaders made it clear this afternoon that the cal their fire is a top priority as they not only worked to evacuate but also protect a congested and threaten south lake tahoe now, cal fire, chief director tom porter says that fire is really tough for firefighters as they have gained more control on the west side of the fire. but the east side of it is in hard to reach conditions again, the east side

south lake tahoe is a ghost town tonight. a far cry from earlier today. that is what it looked like when tens of thousands of people were all ordered out at one time ahead of the caldor fire. good evening i'm ken bastida. >> and i'm elizabeth cook. >> the fire covers an area the size of san jose, oakland and san francisco combined. in the past 90 minutes we have heard that containment is up to 600%. 650 buildings destroyed and 18,000 threatened in the community of south lake. >> we have resources pushed into that area to assess and assist with the fire fight in that area. we expect that to continue through the night. based on the fire behavior and the weather that we are experiencing over the next 24 to 48 hours. >>> there is a map of the current evacuation zone. the entire area in red. it is under mandatory order. get out now. people in the yellow area are under a warning to be ready to get out and on the lake the order extend from tahoma to south lake village. kitie nilson has the coverage. katie. >> reporter: ken, we are actually here at heavenly villa

a state of emergency in south lake tahoe. that's our big story this morning as just about every single resident here in south lake tahoe and a lot of these other communities along 50 leading up there. >> have all gone. they packed up left. yeah. and as they moved out the flames started moving in overnight. we've seen the fire grow. >> into places that you're used to stop and a chain up like right high burr's and myers and on the road to kirkwood. we've sierra at tahoe. and that's cam so that the flames coming up towards the resort. but the resort is ok at this point. in fact, if we could just light up this map just a touch here at tahoe is located right about here. there's the resort. yeah. and you can see the fire line. definitely encroached on the resort property itself. and that's why some of the video seen. >> flames and glowing ski lifts and things like that. and like you said, use in the snow blowers. you know that that creates no makers to try and tune in to keep trying to move top some wet. here we have my yesterday, t

but tonight south lake tahoe is a ghost town to get to safety many residents have to go through the town of stateline, nevada, which is less than 5 miles away from south lake tahoe. >> we want to take a closer look at the evacuation map. this from the eldorado county sheriff's department mandatory evacuation orders are highlighted there in red warning said are in yellow. the little bit outside that area include all of south lake tahoe emerald bay myers tahoma just to name a few of the places they're tahoe keys and also includes tourists and resident residential areas including heading heading lee state line, not state line itself. tahoe island and be shoot neighborhoods in south lake tahoe. if you live in those areas are, you know, people who live in those areas, they need to leave now. emergency officials are reminding people to check for evacuations regularly because the situation is quickly changing and here now is a look at highway 50 at ski run boulevard earlier today there was a line of cars trying to get out for as far as you can see. but now. >> can see that the roads are empty.

locate where the fire coming earlier we hundreds, if not thousands of residents and visitors in south lake tahoe, trying to leave the area after there was a mandatory evacuation put in place for south lake tahoe, and that was very real to see boat and jet skis on people's trailers with a giant form of smoke in the background. this is, i believe, a part of the country that is not often affected by fire. the kind of fight that we see elsewhere in california. however, the authorities been dealing with this have they got a grip of this situation? not really. the calendar fire is currently one of 2 major incident. be up there being in the fire. not 2 hours north from here. this area has now become known as fire country, because we're seeing dryer winds less rain and more hinder basically more feel for these fires to grow. and so it's been a real challenge for fire fighters from what i've seen them to be able to keep up with it every, every sort of trigger point as they call it or, or check point that they set for themselves to try and manage for the day has been completely demolished by the fire, and