‘It’s eerie.’ After day of gridlock, South Lake Tahoe residents leave their town behind

As ash rained down, thousands of people frantically packed their belongings only to find themselves stuck in traffic Monday as the Caldor Fire threatened the heavy tourist area of South Lake Tahoe.

But by midafternoon, the traffic jam appeared to have cleared in most areas as an unusual silence spread across the region at what would normally be one of the busiest times of year for one of California’s most popular summertime tourist destinations.

The fire crested Echo Summit earlier in the morning, and state and local authorities told everyone on the southern and western shore of the lake to leave immediately as heavy winds were expected to push the fire dangerously close to the neighborhoods that ring California’s largest natural lake.

Some, like Brian Strouse and Karly Trout, tried desperately to fire-proof their properties from the fire’s advance. The couple raked pine needles away from their wooden fence and metal-roofed home on the outskirts of South Lake Tahoe Monday afternoon.

The strangest thing? The stillness. The road that normally sees some 28,000 vehicles per day — tourists, locals and long haul truckers — was empty save for bulldozer haulers, fire engines and law enforcement vehicles.

“It’s eerie,” Strouse said in between sips from a glass of ice water.

With the fire approaching for days, Strouse said he’s been having flashbacks to the 2007 Angora Fire that burned close to 254 homes nearby.

“You could hear propane tanks blowing up,” he said.

Tom Bielenberg, 74, spent Monday afternoon dragging hoses and sprinklers onto the roof of his South Lake Tahoe home of 11 years. A former auto shop owner, Bielenberg was cringing about having to leave behind a Porsche, Subaru and ‘74 Land Cruiser — that was “the year,” he said.

The only upshot? He’s able to take his 1970 El Camino when he heads to a hotel room in Truckee.

“Tahoe, it’s beautiful,” he said. “It’d be a shame to see it all gone.”

‘I just didn’t think it would happen’

A couple of miles north, in the heart of South Lake Tahoe, traffic headed east out of town was gridlocked in all directions. Vehicles barely budged for hours, and then started easing up a bit by mid-afternoon.

“Nothing’s moving,” said Emilie Hook, standing outside her Toyota Tacoma pickup that was parked in traffic at the intersection. “I figured it would be bad but not this bad.”

South Lake Tahoe police said officers couldn’t open the highways up to one-way traffic since too many fire trucks needed to come in from the other direction.

South Lake Tahoe is a mix of residential homes, vacation rentals, casinos, hotels and state parks on California’s border with Nevada and hugging what normally is one of the state’s premier tourist destinations. Thousands come every year to swim, boat and hike around the shore of Tahoe’s stunning blue water.

Hook moved from the Bay Area 15 years ago. This is her third time being evacuated during a wildfire, but the Caldor Fire was making her nervous.

As winds kicked up and ash fell, she doused the pine needles that had accumulated in her truck bed with the only liquid she had available: Orange windshield cleaner.

“After 30 years of drought, here we are,” she said as law enforcement vehicles, cycling between normal sirens and deeper pulsing alerts, raced by.

Josh Darrow was parked on the road nearby, his dog, Kirk, in the bed of his pickup. He lined up in the gridlock at exactly 12:06 p.m. and budged about 30 feet in 2 hours.

“I just didn’t think it would happen,” Darrow said of the prospect of evacuating a city like South Like Tahoe. “I knew it was a possibility. I’ve been kinda preparing. But I didn’t think it was gonna happen.”

After a day of relative calm, each gust of wind seemed to make him more nervous.

“It went from optimistic to worst case,” he said. “Never thought this would happen.”

By 2:15 p.m. both Darrow and Hook finally rounded the corner from Hwy 89 onto Hwy 50, the main route out of town. A miles-long crawl out of California and into Nevada awaited them.

This story was originally published August 30, 2021 at 3:35 PM with the headline "‘It’s eerie.’ After day of gridlock, South Lake Tahoe residents leave their town behind."