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Traffic jam on the escape route: residents and vacationers have been instructed to leave the Lake Tahoe region as soon as possible
Photo: Andy Barron / AP
The popular California excursion area Lake Tahoe has been partially cleared due to rapidly spreading forest fires.
The fire brigade instructed the residents and vacationers on the southern edge of the huge mountain lake in the Sierra Nevada on Monday morning (local time) to leave the region.
A fire that had raged for over two weeks had spread eastward to the vacation area in northern California over the weekend.
More than 3,700 firefighters are fighting the so-called Caldor fire, but the fire was only 14 percent under control on Monday.
It has already covered an area of more than 700 square kilometers and destroyed almost 500 houses in the mountain region.
The fire brigade pointed to dangerous conditions due to extremely dry vegetation and strong winds.
Series of forest fires
The environmental authorities have been warning of unhealthy air quality for weeks.
Due to the danger of forest fires and smoke pollution, the El Dorado national forest was closed to hikers and other visitors.
The closure is initially planned for the end of September.
The western United States and Canada have been hit by a series of forest fires for many weeks.
The so-called Dixie Fire in Northern California has been raging since mid-July and has burned more than 3,100 square kilometers there, according to the fire protection authority Cal Fire.
The second largest fire in the history of California is only half under control even after weeks of deployment by the fire brigade.
It destroyed over 1200 buildings and largely burned down the former gold rush town of Greenville.
You can find a guest article by the climate researcher on the forest fires in the USA here: Why the fires are raging so violently
You can read an analysis of the causes here: The USA in the climate clamp
Experts see the main reason why fires can spread so quickly in the extreme drought in recent years in the western United States.
Climate change has made the region warmer and drier over the past 30 years and, according to scientists, will make the weather even more extreme and the forest fires even more devastating.
oka / dpa
