Firefighters Report Progress Against The Flames Near Lake Tahoe

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Firefighters put out hot spots near South Lake Tahoe, Calif., on Wednesday. Authorities are reporting progress in the battle to save communities on the south end of Lake Tahoe from a huge forest fire.

Jae C. Hong/AP

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Jae C. Hong/AP

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Embers fly from a tree as the Caldor Fire burns along Highway 50 in Eldorado National Forest, Calif., on Wednesday.

Noah Berger/AP

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A home is completely wrapped in fire-resistant material to protect the property against the approaching Caldor Fire in Meyers, Calif., on Wednesday.

Jae C. Hong/AP

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Jae C. Hong/AP

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A firefighter battles the Caldor Fire along Highway 89 on Tuesday, near South Lake Tahoe, Calif.

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Noah Berger/AP

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A firefighter puts out hot spots near South Lake Tahoe, Calif., on Wednesday.

Jae C. Hong/AP

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Jae C. Hong/AP

A firefighter puts out hot spots near South Lake Tahoe, Calif., on Wednesday.

Jae C. Hong/AP

To his wife’s dismay, John Rhodes, 60, did not evacuate but stuck around to defend the couple’s neighborhood in an unincorporated area south of South Lake Tahoe that burned in the 2007 fire.

Rhodes and his neighbors, including several off-duty firefighters from other California agencies, wrapped homes in hoses and ran sprinklers to create a perimeter around the neighborhood to supplement official firefighting work nearby.

As a rookie firefighter, he admitted to butterflies.

«I was anxious about how I would stand up near the hot spot. These guys are trying to get me all coached, Rhodes said, pointing toward his firefighter friends, who declined to talk to a reporter.

Firefighters are battling dozens of other California blazes

The Caldor Fire not only emptied out South Lake Tahoe, but parts of neighboring Stateline, Nevada. Casinos, however, were excluded from the order and as of Wednesday, were still open. Their hotel rooms were housing evacuees, fire crews and other emergency personnel.

More than 15,000 firefighters, with help from out-of-state crews, were battling dozens of California blazes, including another monstrous blaze in the same area.

The Dixie Fire is the second-largest wildfire in state history at 1,320 square miles (3,415 square kilometers). The weeks-old fire was burning about 65 miles (105 kilometers) north of the Lake Tahoe-area blaze and prompted new evacuation orders and warnings this week.

Climate change has made the West much warmer and drier in the past 30 years and will continue to make weather more extreme and wildfires more frequent, destructive and unpredictable, scientists say. Threat of fire is so widespread that the U.S. Forest Service announced this week that all national forests in California would be closed until Sept. 17.

A firefighter injured while battling the Caldor Fire last weekend was expected to be hospitalized for a month after undergoing skin grafting surgery. Richard Gerety III of Patterson, California, suffered third-degree burns over 20% of his body, the Modesto Bee reported.

Laura Forvilly had planned to stay as long as possible in her Stateline condominium, but her adult children persuaded her to pack up Tuesday and leave in advance of an evacuation order.

Forvilly, who runs boat cruises on the lake, said she took a carload of «all the wrong things — clothes, of course, as well as keepsake photos, belongings that can’t be replaced and her three dogs. She arrived at her sister’s house in nearby Reno, where the air was clear and blue.

She’s not worried about her yacht or home. But she’s surprised at how close the fire is.

«I’m so sad our beautiful Tahoe is going through this, Forvilly said. «It’s hard to believe it’s actually happening this close to where we all live and work.