Wildfire forces evacuation of major US tourist spot

Thousands of people were ordered to evacuate Monday as a huge wildfire loomed over a major US tourist spot, filling the air with choking smoke.

The Caldor Fire has already torn through more than 700 square kilometers, razing hundreds of buildings.

On Monday it was roaring towards South Lake Tahoe, the main resort town in the popular holiday area that straddles the California and Nevada border.

The western United States is burning at an alarming rate, with over 2,700 square miles blackened by late August in California alone -- more than double the area consumed by this time in an average year.

The fires are being driven by a historic drought that has left swathes of the region parched, as man-made climate change takes a visible -- and painful -- toll, and people living in the area are forced to flee.

22,000 people were ordered out of their homes on Monday morning, joining tens of thousands of others trying to escape the fire's relentless march.

An AFP journalist witnessed streams of traffic leaving the city, with cars and RVs clogging the main roads.

Among those stuck on the road was Mel Smothers, 74. Smothers, who has lived in Tahoe since the 1970s, said this was the first time wildfires had chased him out. But it wouldn't be the last.

"This is paradise, but you know with the recent fires, Lake Tahoe changed," he told AFP.

"This is the way it's going to be from now on. Every year now we have these fires.

"August is beautiful but probably it's going to be smokey from now on."