Update: Douglas and Carson community centers at capacity for evacuees

Both the Douglas County and Carson City community centers are at capacity with evacuees from the Caldor Fire.

Nevada Emergency Management is directing evacuees to Fuji Park and the Reno Sparks Convention Center, 4590 S. Virginia St., Reno.

Those who evacuated with their RVs are being directed to the Dayton Rodeo Event Center or the Lyon County Fair Grounds in Reno.

On Monday night, CalFire mistakenly said that Carson High School was an evacuation center. Both it and Douglas High School are hosting classes this week.

That information is being updated.

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The Douglas County Community and Senior Center is at full capacity with evacuees and a second center has been opened at the Carson City Community Center, 851 E. William Street.

No official evacuations or warnings have been issued for the Nevada side of Lake Tahoe stemming from the Caldor Fire.

“Residents in the Tahoe Basin should remain aware and be thinking about evacuation,” Douglas County officials said. “Many people are choosing to leave the basin causing slow traffic in the areas and on the state highways.”

Tahoe Douglas residents caught away from their homes by the closure of Kingsbury Grade and Spooner Summit lined up along Foothill Road in the hopes that the road would open and allow them to get home.

“Pay attention to road closures and available shelter locations,” Douglas Spokeswoman Melissa Blosser said. “If residents feel unsafe they should leave the area. The Douglas County Sheriff’s Office is working in collaboration with the City of South Lake Tahoe to evacuate residents based of safety and fire movement.”

Lyon County is working with the Nevada Division of Emergency Management to assist with the evacuation efforts of South Lake Tahoe residents due to the Caldor Fire. Lyon County is not, at this time, opening a shelter. 

Lyon County has room for 100-150 recreational vehicles at the Dayton Event Center and Rodeo Grounds, 500 Schaad Lane, Dayton

The Lyon County Fairgrounds has room for 200-plus recreational vehicles.

Lyon County can also house large animals at the fairgrounds, 100 95A East, Yerington.

Another livestock evacuation center has opened at Fuji Park, which will join the center at the Douglas County Fairgrounds.

Those with lifestock are asked to bring water buckets and food. Blosser said additional shelters will open as required.

Local and state officials are reminding residents and visitors to practice extreme caution while traveling on the roadways and to allow enough braking distance between cars to avoid collisions due to the extreme smoke. Please refrain from traveling to the affected areas to ensure responders are not being blocked.

Air quality across the Valley has deteriorated to hazardous levels, according to airnow.gov.

Westbound traffic on Kingsbury Grade is closed at Foothill, Highway 50 is closed at Highway 395 and at Highway 28.

Evacuees from South Lake Tahoe are streaming into Western Nevada as evacuations were expanded to include the entire city.

As of 3 p.m. Monday, Gov. Steve Sisolak declared a state of emergency in anticipation of the Caldor fire crossing from California into Nevada in the coming days.

Declaring a state of emergency ensures resources from the local, state, and federal levels are available to assist as needed during this emergency.

“On behalf of the State of Nevada, I would like to thank all of our brave first responders, local government agencies, and nonprofit entities who continue to go above and beyond to assist our communities during the Caldor Fire,” Sisolak said. “We will continue to use all our available resources to fight this fire and assist those in need.”

Nevada state agencies continue to work in close coordination with California partners and those at the local and federal level on the Caldor Fire.

While evacuations can be declared mandatory by California fire officials, only Nevada’s governor can require people to evacuate in the Silver State.