Hospital Transfers Patients as Raging Caldor Fire Rapidly Spread Near Lake Tahoe

Northern California's active Caldor Fire led to evacuation orders and warnings on Sunday night in Lake Tahoe Basin after the conditions of forest triggered rapid spread which caused at least one hospital to evacuate all of its patients out during the flames.

(Photo : Getty Images)

Evacuation Order and Warning

All patients in Barton Memorial Hospital, South Lake Tahoe were being transferred.

In a tweet Sunday night the hospital said: "Patients will be transferred to regional partner facilities & patients' families will be notified. Barton's Emergency Department remains open for emergent health needs only."

Cal Fire said five people have been left with injuries from the fire that has damaged over 650 structures and destroyed almost 40 more since it started on the 14th of August. 

In a news release, Cal Fire said some parts of Alpine and El Dorado counties, had been issued an evacuation order together with evacuation warnings for the remaining parts of the counties.

In an alert Sunday, Cal Fire said that the warning which means there is a possible threat to both life and/or property was increased for more parts of the basin. The alert warned: "Those who require additional time to evacuate and those with pets and livestock should leave now."

Also Read: New Fires Spark in California, Leaving Hundreds of Residents Under Evacuation Orders

South Lake Tahoe Braces for Potential Evacuations 

A resident of Meyers in El Dorado County named Victor Babbitt said he was fortunate to be able to find his way out when he did in spite of not getting a formal notice to leave.

He told CNN affiliate KTVN that he got to know by a warning basically and that was it. He said nobody came to the house. Babbitt also said the neighbors were all relocating and they just carried everything up best they could and off they go.

The city of South Lake Tahoe told residents to brace for potential evacuations.

City spokeswoman named Lindsey Baker told CNN the most crucial thing residents can do at this point is to prepare their go-bags and come up with a plan in place to evacuate if an evacuation order gets extended.

(Photo : Getty Images)

Caldor Fire

What prompted the call for preparation was the fire which had an active day and this week the conditions are expected to get worse, the fire chief for the city of South Lake Tahoe named Clive Savacool told KTVN.

Savacool explained: "The Caldor Fire has made a pretty big jump in the last few hours, so that's had a pretty big impact on the community and expansion of evacuations. It's because these winds, the low humidity, the low moisture, all these conditions are making it very, very treacherous for this fire and so that's why its been expanding so rapidly."

As per Cal Fire, there was a remarkable rise in dynamic fire behavior which resulted in the rapid spread of the fire Sunday.

The Dixie Fire which is the state's largest active wildfire has gotten to more than 765,635 acres since it began in mid-July, as per Cal Fire.

Related Article: Newsom Declares State of Emergency as Caldor Wildfire Consumes 53,700 Acres

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