SOUTH LAKE TAHOE, Calif. — The Caldor Fire is approximately 3 miles away from Kirkwood Mountain Resort.

Firefighters were working hard Tuesday trying to keep the fire from further spreading.

According to officials, firefighters performed numerous firing operations Monday night that brought the fire down from Morman Emigrant Trail to Highway 88. From there, they were able to move the fire east along the highway.

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“They’re going to try to fire some more operations today, but we have to have the right conditions for that,” said Cal Fire Public Information Officer Courtney Coats.

One operation includes the process of what firefighters call “fingering off” the fire. A “finger” of a fire is a small area that has branched off from the main body of a fire, and is usually affected by wind shifts. Firefighters are hoping to finger off the parts of the fire closest on the east side of Highway 88 in order to keep it from moving any further.

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“They’re trying to block it off before it gets to Kirkwood,” Coats said.

“The fire has not reached Kirkwood proper,” said Cal Fire Operations Chief Eric Schwab during a Tuesday evening briefing. “We are trying to keep it all on one side of Highway 88. We have structure defense teams ready if the fire were to get there.”

Highway 88 remains closed from Omo Ranch Road to the Highway 89 intersection.

The fire has spread to 199,632 acres and is 18% contained as of Tuesday evening.

Officials have set a new estimated containment date of Wednesday, Oct. 13.

The Caldor Fire has made history as one of the first fires to begin in the western slopes of the Sierra Nevada’s and cross over to the eastern side.

The governors of both California and Nevada have declared states of emergencies in response to the fast moving fire which has become the 17th largest in California wildfire history.

Visit Inciweb’s website at inciweb.nwcg.gov/incident/7801/ to get a full list of evacuation centers, as well as animal shelters.

Miranda Jacobson is a Staff Writer for the Tahoe Daily Tribune, a sister publicaiton to the Sierra Sun. She can be reached at mjacobson@tahoedailytribune.com