Logan Hannigan-Downs: The Caldor Fire Part 1

The sun shines through the smoking ground and burned trees near Highway 50 after the Caldor Fire burned through the area near South Lake Tahoe, California, on Aug, 31, 2021.

On August 30^th, 2021 I drove down from my home in Corvallis, Oregon to Chico, California. My goal? To photograph the second-largest wildfire in California history: The Dixie Fire. As I arrived at my hotel the news of South Lake Tahoe being evacuated was just breaking. Early next morning I made up my mind and drove the 2.5 hours from Chico to Tahoe City.

Tuesday, August 31^st:

Kids played on a play structure, a couple walked along a path, and a family was eating a picnic. Everything almost seemed normal. Until you looked over Lake Tahoe and saw the massive pyro cloud and a choking wall of smoke. In Tahoe City, I walked along a few beaches and out along the boardwalks and docks. While walking among the yachts looking for a good composition a lady said hi to me. She informed me that she and her husband along with their two dogs had evacuated South Lake Tahoe and were staying on their yacht. She expressed disbelief that the area was burning.

“...we had seen other parts of California burning but never believed this area would ever be in danger, it is too pretty to be burning and there is so much infrastructure and wildlife in harm's way…”

A man on a beach near Tahoe City takes a picture of the Caldor Fire Pyrocumulus Cloud rising above Lake Tahoe on Aug, 31, 2021.

It should be noted that there is no reputable record of the last time this area had burned. Many estimated it to be over 200 years since the last fire. I wish I would’ve talked with her longer and gotten more of her story. But I carried on, noticing some kids hanging off the boardwalk. After a quick stop at Safeway to relieve myself and buy a snack I got back on the road for another hour of driving to South Lake Tahoe. A few cars passed me going towards Tahoe City, but no one was headed south like I was. I passed through three separate roadblocks on my way to South Lake Tahoe, each time the California Highway Patrol waving me through after I showed my press pass. California Penal Code 409.5 section d states:

“Nothing in this section shall prevent a duly authorized representative of any news service, newspaper, or radio or television station or network from entering the areas closed pursuant to this section.”

California is unique with this exemption to media members. In other states, media generally isn’t allowed past the road blockades. In Oregon certain cases are allowed; when you are paired with a fire crew and they accept responsibility for you, and when ODF approves it (which is very rare). I would like to see legislation put into place that allows more media to document wildfire in Oregon. We just had the bootleg fire, the third biggest in Oregon history. There are no pictures of the actual fire. Just Pyro clouds, and the destruction post-fire. The public imaging and messaging that media provides for the California wildfires cannot be understated. Oregon and other states being decimated by fire need to adopt the same strategy and set of laws.

A Cal Fire Firefighter walks out of the smoke after digging a fire line around multiple structures close to Highway 50 near Meyers, California on Aug, 31, 2021.

Driving into South Lake Tahoe can only be described are eerie. The town was completely empty, with only fire vehicles, law enforcement, and the occasional media car driving down the main streets. Along with an occasional bear terrorizing the trash cans. After filling up my gas tank (gas prices were between $4.90 and $5.19 per gallon of regular-grade) I headed up to the fire entry point, which was next to a California Agriculture complex, I flashed my press pass and they waved me through their stop sign. Now, where do I go?

The wind blows embers from a burning tree during the Caldor Fire, near Meyers, California, on Aug, 31, 2021.

Finding fire is a challenge no one talks about when covering wildfires. I was lucky enough to be following a few fire trucks that were just starting their shift. We drove through Meyers on Highway 50 until we reached a stretch of road that was covered with fire vehicles. They were working to prevent the fire from jumping Highway 50, if it did South Lake Tahoe was going to be in extreme danger. Especially with the weather conditions of the Red Flag Warning the area was in. Talking with a Tahoe-based firefighter he said.

“During a usual Red Flag Warning we get 80-100mph winds in this area, it comes whipping off the mountain…we wouldn’t be able to do anything besides run if we were experiencing that type of weather…the town would be lost.”

But Mother Nature decided to be gentle and the winds only topped out at 30-40 mph. That first evening went by in a 7-hour blur. I finally retired to a parking lot around midnight, it was close to 2am by the time I went to sleep in my car.

A young firefighter from Nevada watches over a small log on fire next to California Highway 50 during the Caldor Fire on Aug, 31, 2021.

Wednesday, September 1^st:

Sleeping in a Subaru Outback sucks. For me, at six feet tall I couldn’t completely stretch out, even with the back seats laid down. I was planning on sleeping outside on a cot, but the two bears I had seen roaming around the town the prior day made that plan seem idiotic. While nightly temperatures dropped into the low 40’s and high 30’s, I was never cold with a thermal sleeping bag.

This is a video I quickly took before bed of my sleeping arrangement in my car, as you can see there wasn't a lot of room.

I first headed up to Heavenly Mountain Resort, as there were reports the fire may threaten it. There wasn’t much activity that morning and I quickly left and headed up Highway 50 to get an overview of the other side of the canyon and Highway 89. The smoke had cleared enough for helicopters to start working the fire. I counted three helis, one working the east slope and two working the west slope. I wanted to get a close-up of a drop so I headed to Echo Summit where I had heard radio chatter that they were dropping near structures.

Sure enough, there was a house and a helicopter slowly working down the slope, roughly half a rotor length at a time. I watched from above for a few drops and decided to work to get a shot of the drop and the house. After getting down there I saw that a corner of the deck connected to the house was burned. I knew I wanted to frame the helicopter in the burned-out deck. After another pass, I figured the next one may put it in the burn hole. Sure enough, it came perfectly through and I was able to capture this image below.

Coulson Aviation Helicopter #61 drops water near a house, viewed through a burned-out corner of a house's deck near Echo Summit, California, on Sept, 1, 2021.

Feeling very happy with the result I headed back down and out on Highway 89 and then onto Highway 88 to Kirkwood where I stopped and ate lunch. PB and honey for the win with a side of an apple and a York Peppermint. All washed down with a Glacier Freeze Gatorade and water.

My next stop was Silver Lake, where four helicopters were filling up with water. Two Chinooks, a Skycrane, and a Blackhawk. The Chinooks and Skycrane had internal tanks, while the Blackhawk had a bucket attached. I could’ve stayed there all day, watching these massive machines fly in, pick up water, and then fly out. It was nonstop and quite the sight to take in. In the parking lot was yet another chopper. Talking with its crew they had informed me they had experienced a malfunction during flight and had to emergency land in the parking lot. As I was leaving their company’s mechanic pulled up and started working on it.

Helicopter Transport Services Skycrane "N722HT" flies up after loading with water at Silver Lake, California, on Sept, 1, 2021

Coluson Chinnok #42 hovers above Silver Lake, California, before starting its refill of water on Sept, 1, 2021.

A pilot looks out of their Blackhawk Window as they fill up their 700 gallon bucket in Silver Lake, California, on Sept, 1, 2021.

The broken-down helicopter in the Silver Lake boat landing parking lot, I snapped this with my iPhone as I had one of my long lenses on at the time.

The previous day I had met a CBS Television Crew and I bumped into them again at Kirkwood Mountain Resort. It was the only reliable place for cell service in the area. Their videographer informed me that he was having a hard time finding flames and asked me if I could help. I said yes, and off I went. I could see the general direction the fire was heading and I checked a map to see how I could get there. I drove up a dirt road? Calling it a road is very very generous. I’m still not convinced it was a road, it very easily could’ve been a dozer line. I arrived at a point that looked good to me and mentally prepared myself to hike. It was all downhill through thick brush and around boulders. After about three-quarters of a mile, I reached a pile of boulders and climbed on top of them to get a better view. There was the fire.

I took a few videos and snapped some pictures, but I felt the winds shift and knew I had to leave imminently. I initially started running, but soon realized that it was impossible, I was at 9000 feet, with 40lbs of gear, going up a 25-30% grade and I wasn’t in my best shape. So, I hiked with a purpose, and with the help of the most adrenaline I’ve ever experienced I made it up to where I thought my car was except it wasn’t there. Those 10-12 minutes I was hiking passed by in a blink of an eye and it felt like two minutes. I figured I had hiked up a little far to the right, so I went left and was able to find it. That feeling of relief was indescribable. I booked it out of there and popped two packs of Gatorade chews, a peanut butter packet, and sipped on water to help with my lightheadedness. Lesson learned.

A part of the said footage from the paragraph above.

I decided to stay at a Cal Transportation (Cal Trans) depot for a few hours as three helicopters were doing retardant drops from Highway 89 to a ridgeline to help protect the depot. I enjoyed a nice conversation with a hotshot (Shots) who was directing two of the helicopters, the third wasn’t on radio. Which he informed me was common since they get all the radio traffic in the air and it can get annoying. Moments before I walked up to him, the “rouge” helicopter had missed their drop and decimated a few of the solar panels that provided power for the Cal Trans depot. The conversation with the hotshot ranged from what sports we played growing up, to how poorly paid federal firefighters are, to what our favorite type of freeze-dried meal is. He also offered me a position on his crew next summer if I’m interested….I am still thinking about this.

A Pyro Cloud from the Caldor Fire is visible above a Cal Trans depot near Kirkwood, California on Sept, 1, 2021.

Coluson Chinook #42 drops fire retardant in an effort to protect a Cal Trans Depot near Kirkwood, California on Sept, 1, 2021. This same helicopter was featured in a 60 Minutes segment about operating at night.

That evening I noticed a mountainside that would give a great overview of Caples Lake, the Cal Trans Depot, and the fire front. So, I hiked up it during sunset to snap a few pictures. At the top I realized it would be an amazing long exposure of the fire, I just didn’t have my tripod, and it was in my car 1000ft down the mountain. So I hiked down, grabbed it, my headlamp, and a thermal jacket, and hiked back up through the rocks and bushes. While it wasn’t fun, it was calming. At the top it was magical, the stars were indescribable, the biting wind provided a relief from the flames and constant go of a fire, the stars provided all the light I needed to work my camera. The first fox walking by did startle me, its eyes glowed in my green headlamp beam. I’m sure it was confused about me. A few more passed by during my time up there. It was an out-of-body experience, I cannot describe it any other way. It's an experience and feeling I’ll never forget.