Here are the morning’s top stories on Monday, August 5, 2024…
- Crews continue to get a better handle on the massive Park Fire in Northern California. It’s burned more than 401,000 acres but as of Monday morning, is 34% contained. Some evacuation orders and warnings were lifted over the weekend. And many residents who are returning home are grateful that their residence wasn’t that badly damaged.
- A UC Davis report confirms a years-long trend at Lake Tahoe, where water clarity improves in the winter but becomes far worse in the summer.
- Fresno is the one of several cities in the state to sign up for the Clean California Community campaign. The initiative provides significant investments in litter collection, particularly along streets and highways.
Park Fire Evacuees Return Home
Fire officials are expecting more hot weather this week as crews continue to work to increase containment on the Park Fire. As of Monday morning, the fire has burned more than 401,000 acres and is 34% contained. The fire has destroyed 640 structures.
Many residents have started to return home to check on their property as evacuation orders and warnings have been downgraded. That includes Tony Lemeshko from Paynes Creek. “We didn’t have a lot of hope going up there. Because as we were driving, we were looking around, and everything was just gone. Basically ashes and charcoal everywhere you look,” he said. But the Christian rehabilitation facility where he and five others evacuated from was still standing when he returned, and all the animals that were on the property survived as well.
UC Davis Report Confirms Trend On Water Clarity At Lake Tahoe
The UC Davis Tahoe Environmental Research Center has found that in 2023, the years-long trend of water clarity at Lake Tahoe improving in the winter and deteriorating during the summer continued.
The annual clarity report found that winter lake conditions were the clearest observed since 1983, with visibility of 91.9 feet under the surface, compared with 72.2 feet in 2022. But during Summer months, visibility was the fifth murkiest on record with an average of 53.5 feet, compared with 68.9 feet in 2022.
Fresno One Of More Than 20 Communities Earning Clean California Designation
On Saturday, Governor Newsom launched the Clean California Community Designation Program. It’s a statewide effort aimed at encouraging local engagement to make communities cleaner.