Another big, dynamic fire day for the Caldor Fire on Lake Tahoe and Kirkwood ends

During their 10:00 a.m. briefing with the day's fire crews, CalFire said "today is going to be another big, dynamic fire day" due to the high winds and gusts could reach 50 mph.

Due to the winds and dry trees there will be more long range spotting today in the fire area, up to one mile, maybe more. The wind's erratic behavior will continue for at least one more day.

"Spotting is getting us on this fire," said the CalFire fire behavior analyst this morning. "The active torching causes spot fires." He said the fire was moving 200 ft per minute yesterday, causing the fire to throw out embers.

Crews will continue to work along US50 and protect the homes between the American River and the highway in the Kyburz-Strawberry area. Early reports say homes east of there at Echo Lakes haven't been so lucky, but no numbers are available at this time.

Fire fighters are continuing to work along SR88 and showing some progress in protecting Kirkwood and Thunder Mountain ski areas.

A new Type 1 Incident Command is arriving in South Lake Tahoe today and will work in conjunction with the current team based in Placerville. They'll be bringing a lot more resources with them.

They are trying to create a "catcher's mitt" as the fire burns into Lake Tahoe to the east of Christmas Valley and will be seeing where more ways to stop the fire with dozer lines and other prevention measures.

Planes dropped 180,000 gallons of retardant over the west slope areas of the fire on Monday, making it 1.8 million gallons from McClellan Air Force base alone. Air resources will be over Christmas Valley and Lake Tahoe areas today.