Looking at at the cams in South Lake Tahoe, there is zero traffic moving about. Looks like most folks took the evac orders and left. Sadly, probably some miscreants willing to take advantage stared behind to do some looting while folks are gone. Some looting in the Lassen/Plumas areas during the Dixie fire up there. Over 750K acres on that one.
Looking at at the cams in South Lake Tahoe, there is zero traffic moving about. Looks like most folks took the evac orders and left.
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If you look at a map of Lake Tahoe you will notice there is only one main road that circles the lake. It would be very easy for a fire to envelope an area with no way to escape (except perhaps by boat).
So the smart ones left when they first warned of the danger.