Ski Resort Under Evacuation Warning Due To Forest Fires
The latest North American resorts to be impacted by forest fires are located in the Lake Tahoe region of California.
The Caldor Forest fire which erupted on 14th August had grown to engulf 50,000 acres within four days and had reached 100,000 acres at the start of this week and is now at 140,000 acres.
The two ski areas closest to it are Kirkwood and Sierra-at-Tahoe (webcam image top).
“Kirkwood Mountain Resort is under Evacuation Warning from the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection. We remain in constant communication and are offering our support to the local Fire Department, Cal Fire and United States Forest Service and updates will be provided as more information becomes available,” a statement from the resort late on Thursday.
Summer forest fires appear to be increasingly threatening ski areas around the world.
Ski areas across Western Canada and the US have been threatened to varying degrees over the past 4-5 months. Sun Peaks in BC did see evacuation orders in July, many other resorts have been closed at various times due to fire danger in the wider region poor air quality caused by the smoke in the air. Most are on ‘extreme-high-alert’ against the danger of fire breaking out.
In summer 2019-20, shortly before the pandemic began, several Australian ski areas were threatened by fire and the the ski lifts and base building at Selwyn Snowfields in Victoria Province were completely destroyed. The resort is currently being rebuilt.
