SOUTH LAKE TAHOE, Calif. — They sent thousands of firefighters, 25 helicopters and an arsenal of more than 400 fire engines and 70 water trucks. Yet the fire still advanced.
加州南塔霍湖——他们派出数千名消防员、25架直升机、400多辆消防车和70辆水车。然而火势仍在蔓延。
They dropped retardant chemicals through an ash-filled sky and bulldozed trees and brush to slow the march of the flames through the steep and rugged terrAIn of the Sierra Nevada. Yet the fire still advanced.
他们在布满灰尘的天空中投放阻燃剂，铲平树木和灌木丛，以减缓火焰在内华达塞拉山脉崎岖地带的蔓延。然而火势仍在推进。
Bursting across a granite ridge into the Lake Tahoe basin, the Caldor fire now threatens tens of thousands of homes and hotels that ring the lake.
卡尔多大火(Caldor fire)冲破花岗岩山脊，进入塔霍湖盆地，现在威胁到环湖的数万民居和酒店。
On Tuesday, the smoke-choked streets of South Lake Tahoe, the most populous city on the lake, were deserted, save for police patrol cars and an occasional convoy of fire vehicles. Thousands of residents and tourists had been evacuated the day before.
周二，湖边人口最多的城市南塔霍湖的街道上空空荡荡、浓烟弥漫，只有警察的巡逻车和偶尔出现的消防车队。数以千计的居民和游客在前一天已被疏散。
The lake, renowned for its bright blue hues and the evergreen forests that surround it, was smothered in a slate of sickly orange-gray haze. On the Nevada side of the border, which has not yet been evacuated, one industry was still limping along: A trickle of gamblers sat at slot machines to the whooshing sound of large air purifiers that attempted to keep out the pungent smoke. The air quality index was nearing 500, a level considered hazardous.
这片湖泊以其明亮的蓝色调和周围环绕的常绿森林而闻名，如今被一层令人作呕的橘灰色薄雾笼罩。在尚未疏散的州界内华达一侧，有一个行业仍在艰难运行：一小群赌徒坐在老虎机前，伴随着大型空气净化器的嗖嗖声，这些净化器试图阻挡刺鼻的烟雾。空气质量指数接近500，属于危险水平。
Battling the Caldor fire has been humbling and harrowing for California firefighters. Experts believe that the challenge is a cautionary tale for future megafires in the West and lays bare a certain futility in trying to fully control the most aggressive wildfires.
对加州的消防员来说，与卡尔多大火的战斗让他们感到无力和痛苦。专家们认为，这一挑战是对西部地区未来特大火灾的警示，也表明试图完全控制最严重的野火在某种程度上是徒劳的。
“No matter how many people you have out on these fires, it’s not a large enough work force to put the fire out,” said Malcolm North, a fire expert with the U.S. Forest Service and a professor at the University of California, Davis.
“不管投入多少人灭火，都不足以把火扑灭，”加州大学戴维斯分校(University of California, Davis)教授、美国林务局消防专家马尔科姆·诺斯(Malcolm North)说:
“You can save particular areas or particular homes,” Professor North said. “But the fire is pretty much going to do what it’s going to do until the weather shifts.”
“你可以拯救特定的地区或特定的住宅，”诺斯说。“但在天气变化之前，大火基本上会继续燃烧下去。”
On Monday, propelled by strong winds, the fire crested a granite ridge that officials had hoped would serve as a natural barrier. Embers leapfrogged past firefighting crews and descended toward the valley floor just miles from South Lake Tahoe. By early Tuesday, the fire had taken hold in the Tahoe basin. Stands of pine ignited by flying embers were fully engulfed in flames, casting a bright orange glow into the night sky.
周一，在强风推动下，大火越过了官员们原本希望能作为天然屏障的花岗岩山脊。余烬飘过消防队员，向下坠落到离南塔霍湖只有几英里的谷底。周二早些时候，大火已经蔓延到塔霍盆地。一排排松树被飞来的余烬点燃，被火焰完全吞没，在夜空下发出明亮的橙色光芒。
It was only the second time, officials said, that a wildfire that began on the western slopes of the Sierra Nevada crossed into the eastern side. The first was also this summer: the Dixie fire, the second largest in California history. No deaths have been reported in either fire.
官员们表示，这是内华达山脉西麓开始的野火第二次蔓延到东麓。第一次同样发生在今年夏天，那就是迪克西大火(Dixie fire)，是加州历史上第二大火灾。两起火灾均未造成人员死亡。
The authorities say about 27,000 firefighters were battling blazes across the country, about 15,000 of them in California. All national forests in California will be closed by Tuesday night. Hundreds of soldiers and airmen and several military aircraft have been sent by the National Guard. But the resources are no match for the ferocious blazes, which continue to outpace firefighters and explode across the state.
当局表示，大约2.7万名消防员在全国各地灭火，其中大约1.5万人在加州。加州所有国家森林将于周二晚上关闭。国民警卫队派出了数百名士兵、飞行员和几架军用飞机。但这些资源无法与大火抗衡，大火蔓延的速度超过了消防员的速度，并在全州范围内爆发。
The blazes in Sierra forests have exposed the domino effects of climate change on firefighting challenges: Frequent heat waves and overall higher temperatures have desiccated West Coast flora, making it more vulnerable to large fires. Droughts have weakened trees, encouraging insect infestations that have contributed to the deaths of close to 150 million trees. This creates more fuel for fires.
塞拉森林里的大火暴露了气候变化对消防挑战的多米诺骨牌效应：频繁的热浪和整体更高的温度导致西海岸的植物干燥，令其更容易受到大型火灾的影响。干旱令树木虚弱，助长了虫害，导致近1.5亿棵树死亡。这为火灾提供了更多燃料。
Scientists say there is also a correlation between global warming and the increased wind conditions that have fanned fierce wildfires across the state. And they point to a need for better forest management, thinning out some of the thickest woods.
科学家们表示，全球变暖与不断加剧的风况之间也存在关联，这些风况已经在该州各地引发了猛烈的野火。他们指出，需要更好的森林管理，使一些最茂密的森林变得稀疏一些。
The chaotic way these megafires spread was on display in the hills above South Lake Tahoe on Monday. Kyle Hukkanen was leading a crew of 12 inmate firefighters armed with axes, shovels and chain saws. They bounded down a steep hillside of granite boulders and evergreen trees until they reached a spot where wisps of smoke were rising from the ground.
周一，南塔霍湖上方的山丘上，可以看到大火蔓延带来的混乱。凯尔·胡卡宁(Kyle Hukkanen)带着12名携带斧头、铲子和链锯的囚犯消防队员。他们沿着花岗岩巨石和常青树环绕的陡峭山坡一路狂奔，来到一个地面上冒出缕缕烟雾的地方。
They dug and sprayed the smoldering fire with water before ascending back to their idling truck. “This is not good,” Mr. Hukkanen said as gusts of wind fed the spot fire on the hillsides. The radio crackled with reports of spotting farther down the mountain toward South Lake Tahoe, and Mr. Hukkanen and his crew disappeared down a smoke-shrouded road.
他们挖掘、洒水，熄灭那些燃烧的火苗，然后上坡回到空转的卡车上。“情况不妙，”胡卡宁说，因为阵风使山坡上的零星火势更加猛烈。无线电里噼里啪啦地传来了南塔霍湖方向的山下还有零星火势的消息，胡卡宁和团队消失在一条烟雾缭绕的路上。
Fire specialists say some firefighting tools are appropriate on a smaller scale but outmatched by the huge fires of recent years.
消防专家表示，一些消防工具在火灾规模较小的情况下是合适的，但在近年来的大火中却显得不够。
In the hills and gullies where the Caldor fire has burned 190,000 acres over the past two weeks, helicopters dropped large buckets of water — thousands of gallons at a time — but they hardly seemed a match.
在过去的两周里，卡尔多大火烧过了19万英亩的山地和沟壑，直升机向这些地方投下了大量的水——每次数千加仑——但似乎根本就不够。
“That’s great for protecting a neighborhood, but when you think about the size of a 750,000-acre fire, that’s nothing,” Professor North, the U.S. Forest Service expert, said of dropping water or retardant in large swaths of forest.
“用来保护一个社区的效果很好，但是对于一场75万英亩的大火，这根本不算什么，”美国林务局专家诺斯在谈到向大片森林浇水或喷洒阻燃剂时说。
He and others added that the Sisyphean task of fire containment pointed to a desperate need for better mitigation.
他和其他人还说，遏制火灾的西西弗斯式任务表明，更好的缓解措施势在必行。
Controlled burns that embrace Indigenous methods to use “good” fire to fight destructive megafires have become an increasingly accepted method in recent years, but experts say the state has a lot of catching up to do.
近年来，采用原住民的方法，用“好”火来对抗破坏性大火的控制燃烧措施，已经成为越来越被接受的方法，但专家表示，该州还有很多工作要做。
On the receiving end of the worsening blazes are the residents who wonder where, if anywhere, will be safe from wildfire.
在不断恶化的大火中，承受后果的是居民们，他们想知道有没有地方能够逃离野火，如果有，是在哪里。
Among the evacuees from South Lake Tahoe were Darren Cobrae, a real estate investor, and his partner, Stephanie Cothern, who was driving the couple’s car toward the Nevada state line.
从南塔霍湖撤离的人中有房地产投资者达伦·科布雷(Darren Cobrae)和伴侣史蒂芬妮·科瑟恩(Stephanie Cothern)，后者开着两人的车驶向内华达州的边界。
Inside were bags of clothing, two large parrots and three dogs, Banana, Freddy and Copper.
车里装着几袋衣服，两只大鹦鹉和三只狗——香蕉(Banana)、弗雷迪(Freddy)和科珀(Copper)。
Mr. Cobrae said he moved to South Lake Tahoe from Southern California, where his home was nearly burned in a wildfire in 2007.
科布雷说，他是从南加州搬到了南塔霍湖的。2007年，他的家在南加州的一场野火中差点被烧毁。
“I figured I would be safe in this city,” Mr. Cobrae said. “And now this,” he said, pointing to a sky thickening with smoke.
“我以为我在这个城市会很安全，”科布雷说。“现在成了这样，”他指着烟雾弥漫的天空说。
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