Harrah’s Lake Tahoe Team Thanked By Crews Battling Caldor Fire

Posted on: October 2, 2021, 03:44h. 

Last updated on: October 2, 2021, 04:22h.

Larry Henry Read More
Expertise: Commercial Gaming, Gaming Business, Legislation, Politics, Regulation.

Employees at a Lake Tahoe hotel-casino who stayed behind to help shelter fire crews during a massive California wildfire received a pleasant surprise — a handwritten “Thank-you” note.

Harrah's Lake Tahoe "thank you" card
Personal messages adorn the inside of a “Thank-you” card to Harrah’s Lake Tahoe employees. The card was signed by firefighters who stayed at the resort during the Caldor Fire. (Image: Harrah’s Lake Tahoe Twitter page)

On its Twitter feed this week, Harrah’s Lake Tahoe Hotel and Casino posted a picture of the “Thank-you” card, which includes personal messages from crew members battling the Caldor Fire. 

“This gives us all the warm feels,” the Harrah’s tweet reads. “Our hotel team that chose to stay during the Caldor Fire evacuation to accommodate first responders received a handwritten card.”

In late August, as the fire inched toward the alpine lake, thousands of residents in the surrounding towns departed under mandatory evacuation orders.

The four major hotel casinos on the South Shore in Stateline, Nevada, were closed to patrons, but open for emergency crews, firefighters, and some employees.  In addition to Harrah’s, the other major hotel-casinos in Stateline are MontBleu Resort, Hard Rock Hotel and Casino, and Harveys Lake Tahoe. 

Lake Tahoe straddles the California-Nevada border in the Sierra Nevada mountains, about 20 miles west of Nevada’s capital, Carson City. The lake’s rim is dotted with homes and businesses, and on the Nevada side, with casinos. The largest casinos are in Stateline, just east of the California town of South Lake Tahoe.

During the late summer, the blaze shrouded the pristine lake in smoke and ash and upended what normally would have been a busy Labor Day weekend.

Casino Welcomes Fire Crews

By mid-September, after the evacuation orders were lifted, the four large South Shore hotel-casinos were reopened to the public.

Some firefighters were still using guest rooms at area hotels into September. Harveys Lake Tahoe recently tweeted a brief video of firefighters at the resort.

“What do you do when you receive a request to help 400 firefighters assisting with the Caldor Fire containment?” Harveys tweeted. “Well, last weekend we gave them all rooms!”

Threat Not Over

The Sacramento Bee reported this week that the Caldor Fire is 83 percent contained. However, with the strong winds that commonly occur in that area during October, the potential for further problems exist, fire officials said.

The Caldor Fire threat is not over yet,” Eldorado National Forest Supervisor Jeff Marsolais said. “We are still engaged in fire suppression and there are many hazards in the burned area.”

Fueled by California’s dry timberland and parched terrain, the Caldor Fire has burned through 347 square miles in several counties since it began on Aug. 14.  

The Caldor Fire the 15th-largest wildfire in California history, the Sacramento Bee reported. It is one of a dozen major fires this year in California.

During the past 30 years, climate change has made the West warmer and drier, leading to more fires, the Associated Press reported. The world’s hottest month on record occurred this July, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

“This new record adds to the disturbing and disruptive path that climate change has set for the globe,” NOAA Administrator Rick Spinrad said.