The Caldor Fire, which destroyed hundreds of homes in rural El Dorado County and displaced tens of thousands of residents in and near South Lake Tahoe in early September, is now 100% contained.
The blaze grew to 221,835 acres (347 square miles) before the U.S. Forest Service announced full containment Thursday.
Containment does not mean the fire is extinguished, only that crews have constructed a full perimeter of containment lines around the fire. More than 500 firefighters remain assigned to the Caldor Fire, continuing mop-up and repair efforts to ensure those containment lines hold.
“For example, although the fire is contained, large diameter trees and stump holes will continue to smolder well into the winter months,” Forest Service officials wrote in a Thursday morning incident update. Containment took more than two months. The Caldor Fire started Aug. 14 near the town of Grizzly Flats, which was largely destroyed as the blaze ripped to the north toward the Pollock Pines area in its fierce initial sprint, before winds started blowing it to the northeast.
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