A wind-driven wildfire destroyed at least 165 homes and other structures and scorched 304ha just south-west of Lake Tahoe in California, a spokesperson for the El Dorado county sheriff’s department said.
Sheriff’s Lieutenant Kevin House said the fire is less than 5% contained and has more than 500 homes in its path, but no injuries or deaths have been reported. The cause of the fire is still unknown.
”This thing is raging out of control, and there’s no estimate as to when that may change,” House said late on Sunday. The El Dorado County Board of Supervisors has issued a declaration of emergency, he said.
Kit Bailey, the agency’s fire chief for Lake Tahoe, said high winds hampered the battle against the fast-moving blaze about 8km south of the lake. The Angora Lakes Resort and hundreds of homes in Meyers were evacuated, authorities said.
Winds as high as 40km/h fanned the flames, and the National Weather Service called for gusts as high as 55km/h on Sunday evening.
At least five air tankers and two helicopters were assisting more than 400 firefighters on the ground.
The fire, believed to be caused by human activity, was reported on Sunday afternoon on forest-service land. Its huge smoke plume could be seen for miles.
State and federal fire officials had warned of a potentially active wildfire season in the Sierra Nevada following an unusually dry winter. The annual May 1 snow survey found the Tahoe-area snowpack at just 29% of normal levels, the lowest since 1988.
Earlier this month, a fire forced residents to flee the eastern Sierra community of Coleville, and there have been several other troublesome fires in the region since mid-May.
Meanwhile, in Alaska, crews worked to protect hundreds of homes tucked in the hills of the scenic Kenai Peninsula, where a fire has already destroyed dozens of homes and cabins.
It has burgeoned to 210 square kilometres since Tuesday, consuming 35 far-flung cabins in the Caribou Hills, state fire-information officials said. Forty other structures, including sheds and outhouses, were also lost in the popular hunting and snowmobiling area about 130km south of Anchorage.
The fire threatens another 600 homes and cabins, Hall said. An evacuation order has been in effect since Friday, but fire officials said an unknown number of residents have refused to budge. — Sapa-AP