Traffic was backed up for miles as thousands of people rushed to get out of South Lake Tahoe Monday after the entire tourist resort city came under evacuation orders as a massive wildfire raced toward the iconic freshwater lake, which straddles California and Nevada. Evacuation warnings issued for the resort city of 22,000 on Sunday turned into mandatory orders Monday, forcing the thousands of residents and tourists visiting the area ahead of Labor Day to pack up and leave. Vehicles loaded with bikes and camping gear and hauling boats snaked through thick, brown air that smelled of campfire. Police and other emergency vehicles whizzed by. Conditions continued to worsen across the northern Sierra. Low humidity and gusty winds were expected to challenge firefighters urgently working to keep the blaze away from the popular vacation spot featuring picturesque beaches, emerald-blue waters, rocky shorelines and stunning landscapes in the Sierra Nevada. The evacuation order covers almost the entire city of South Lake Tahoe and the surrounding area as the fire containment line was about 10 miles south from the lake. 📸: Noah Berger, @APNews; Justin Sullivan, @GettyImages