Crews get better handle on large Caldor Fire in Northern California

Aug. 24 (UPI) -- A major wildfire in Northern California has grown to more than 110,000 acres, but crews are getting a better handle on the flames, authorities said.

Cal Fire says the Caldor Fire has blackened 114,000 acres and is 9% contained. It is moving toward the Lake Tahoe Basin near the California-Nevada border.

The blaze has so far destroyed more than 600 homes and commercial structures. More than two dozen others have been damaged.

Cal Fire said improved weather conditions this week has allowed crews to achieve greater containment.

Cal Fire Director Thom Porter said the agency's top priority is keeping the blaze from spreading into the Lake Tahoe Basin and the Sierra Nevada mountains.

"It is knocking on the door to the Lake Tahoe basin," Porter said, according to The New York Times. "We do need to also be aware that [reaching the basin] is a possibility based on the way the fires have been burning."

In Nevada, a handful of schools in the Reno area and Lake Tahoe closed on Monday, due to large amounts of smoke from the fire and several flights at Reno-Tahoe International Airport were delayed.

The Caldor Fire is one of several burning in California and is the fourth-largest in the state, according to Cal Fire -- behind the Dixie Fire (728,000 acres), Monument Fire (150,000) and McFarland Fire (118,000).