The summer wildfire season in California has been even more disastrous than usual, with the town of South Lake Tahoe being completely deserted. This normally booming summer vacation destination is in the path of the Caldor wildfire, which has already burned 200,000 acres and is only 18 percent contained.   

Tens of thousands of people have evacuated from South Lake Take, and over 50,000 people total are being told to leave and find safety. 

It’s been 80 years since Tahoe has had a fire of this size and scope.  

One of the more despicable stories coming out of the mad rush residents had to make to evacuate quickly is the price gouging by Lyft.  A ride on Lyft XL from South Lake Tahoe to Reno, Nevada usually costs $200.  Tuesday, the price soared to almost eight times that much, and one irate customer posted a screenshot of the prices on Twitter. 

In a life and death situation for some people, many were forced to pay what amounts to a ransom of $1,500  to get to safety. 

Lyft says they have now disabled price gouging in the area, but the city is almost entirely evacuated, so many people were left with no other option but to pay the incredibly high prices. 

Uber had no drivers available in the area on Tuesday. 

Another bad hand being handed the hundreds of firefighters battling the huge blaze came Tuesday, when a strike crew of 16 firefighters had to leave the front line and be completely sidelined after testing positive for COVID.  Every able body carrying a hose makes a difference so that was a terribly unfortunate situation. 

Bears have been seen roaming around streets and neighborhoods as they are forced to fly the forest and find shelter.

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