Lake Tahoe evacuees hope to return home as wildfire slows

By DAISY NGUYEN
Associated Press

SOUTH LAKE TAHOE, Calif. (AP) — Bulldozers with giant blades, crews armed with shovels and a fleet of aircraft dropping hundreds of thousands of gallons of water and fire retardant helped keep the advance of a California blaze threatening South Lake Tahoe  to a couple of thousand acres _ a fraction of its explosive spread last month and the smallest increase in two weeks. With more than one third of the 334-square-mile (866-square-kilometer) blaze surrounded, authorities allowed more people back into their homes on the western and northern sides of the fires Friday afternoon. But there was no timeline for allowing the return of 22,000 South Lake Tahoe residents. Authorities were taking the decision on whether to lift South Lake Tahoe’s evacuation day by day.