Tahoe fire guts 165 homes; hundreds flee

A massive wind-whipped fire churning through dry, pine-covered ridges near Meyers south of Lake Tahoe destroyed a reported 165 homes by late Sunday, threatening as many as 500 more, forcing closure of Highway 50 and pushing hundreds of residents to evacuate. Near nightfall, however, with winds dying down and humidity up, fire officials said they hoped they could make a solid attack during the night.

"If that continues we'll be able to get our firefighters in there to make some good progress," Cal Fire spokesman Daniel Berlant said.

The Angora Fire, named for a nearby resort, was reported at 2:14 p.m. in Forest Service land along a ridge a half-dozen miles south of the city of South Lake Tahoe.

By evening, it had raced across 500 acres, some of it inhabited. Officials said they did not know what sparked the blaze.

No deaths or injuries had been reported Sunday evening in what official were saying is the biggest Tahoe fire of the early summer season.

Fire officials reported having difficulty fighting the fire throughout the afternoon and evening as 35-mph wind gusts pushed the blaze through secluded housing subdivisions and wreaked havoc with firefighting planes and helicopters, grounding them intermittently.

"They're definitely having problems with the winds up there," said Linda Curran of the Camino Interagency Dispatch Center in California early on during the firefight Sunday.

Kit Bailey, the U.S. Forest Service fire chief for Lake Tahoe, said the winds turned what had been a small fire in the afternoon into a rampaging blaze.

"Let's just call it rapid rates of spread," she said when asked about the fire's progress.

As sheriff's officials knocked on doors and urged residents in the Tahoe Paradise area to flee their homes, a squadron of seven air tankers and four helicopters were assisting more than 400 firefighters on the ground.

An estimated 110 people were said to have been evacuated to the South Lake Tahoe city recreation center on Rufus Allen Boulevard, where the Red Cross was setting up cots.

Some 100 fire trucks were reported at or on their way to the scene Sunday evening, and eight more helicopters were on the way.

Numerous state and local agencies were involved in the fight and evacuation efforts.

"Everybody is coming together well, we have so many outside resources coming in to do as much as they can," South Lake Tahoe Police Lt. Martin Hale said.

Witnesses said the fire sent up a honey-colored plume of smoke blowing across Lake Tahoe and visible throughout the Tahoe and Reno area.

Hot embers were reported flying a quarter mile and ash was falling in at least a 10-mile area.

The billowing smoke made it hard to see how large the fire is, U.S. Forest Service spokesman Rex Norman said.

"Their main concern is not trying to measure the fire, but to get containment lines around it and get the hotspots down," he said.

Although winds eased late Sunday, National Weather Service forecasts called for more high winds today, making the firefight potentially more difficult.

The area already had been "red flagged" as dry and susceptible to fire.

The initial location of the blaze was said to be near North Upper Truckee Road and Mt. Rainier Drive - not far from the Reno-Tahoe airport along highways 50 and 89.

Highway 50 was closed eastbound Sunday in Pollock Pines. Highways 88 and 89 also were closed in the south Tahoe area.

The blaze forced evacuations of numerous primary family residences, vacation homes in the pines and also the Angora Lakes Resort.

"I can't stay on the phone. We just got a notice to evacuate," Gloria Hildinger of the Angora Lakes Resort said. "The smoke is getting pretty thick. It's probably two miles away and we're hoping it won't reach here."

California Highway Patrol Officer Kevin Dougherty said portions of highways 50, 88 and 89 would remain closed or partially closed to the public throughout the night to allow fire crews to move more easily through the area.

About the writer:

• The Bee's Tony Bizjak can be reached at (916) 321-1059 or tbizjak@sacbee.com. Bee staff writers Edgar Sanchez and Ryan Lillis, Bee correspondent Christine Vovakes and the Associated Press contributed to this report.