Caldor Fire

I worked for the Eldorado National Forest for almost four years.

The ENF is divided into four districts, Georgetown to the northwest, Pacific to the northeast, Placerville slicing through the middle, and Amador to the south.  I worked on the Placerville district.  During my time on this district, I hike a fair share of it, found my favorite places, coordinated with business owners who operated on the forest and was liaison for private land owners within the forest.  

The last two weeks have been hard.  The picture below shows the Caldor Fire's footprint as of this morning (minus the part that's dropped down into the Tahoe Basin).  Everything you see in red is my old district.

This map shows the fire's progression, from when it first ignited to today.  I have former coworkers who have been evacuated, two of them with homes where the fire got really, really, close.  The whole eastern half of our stake is evacuated.  Gil's boss was also evacuated and he and his wife are camped out in their trailer behind the shop where he operates his business.

This is a photo of what remains of the Plummer Guard Station.  It was an old cabin where rangers would stay while out on patrol.  The fire burned incredibly hot here and little remains. We were working on getting it ready to be rented to the public.  The structure in the back is solid concrete.  One of my former seasonal employees who sent me this picture said there are places where the fire burned even hotter and not a single tree survived.  

One structure I was very worried about was the Harvey West Cabin.  It was built in the early 1900s and was a private retreat until becoming part of the ENF.  It is fairly rustic (no electricity but hot running water) and we rented it out every summer.  The cabin was saved, though you can see the flames to the left side of the photo.

We are watching this fire very carefully, praying for those evacuated and for the safety of all the firefighters, and a swift containment.