Sierra Wildfire Races Through 7,000 Acres

SAN FRANCISCO â€”  A fast-moving wildfire fed by winds and abetted by low humidity in the Sierra Nevada on Tuesday night jumped U.S. 50, burned 30 to 40 structures and forced evacuation of several small mountain communities, fire officials said.

“It’s going to be a bear,� said Sid Nobles, a top fire official at the U.S. Forest Service dispatch center in Redding. “This is going to be a four- to five-day fire.�

The highway was closed from the Placerville area nearly to South Lake Tahoe because of smoke. No injuries from the fire were reported.

Officials said the blaze began Tuesday and spread rapidly, growing to nearly 7,000 acres by 9 p.m. The advancing fire at times threw flaming debris as much as a mile ahead, said California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection spokeswoman Cindy McVay.

A spokesman for the El Dorado County Sheriff’s Department said most of the burned structures were mountain cabins and outbuildings. Tiny settlements dot the rugged mountains east of Placerville.

The hamlets of Riverton and Whitehall and portions of Kyburz were evacuated. All are small communities along U.S. 50, the main route between the Central Valley and the resort area of South Lake Tahoe.

There was also concern for deer hunters who might be camping in less accessible areas of the region, which is part of El Dorado National Forest and is marked by steep ridges and isolated lakes.

The wildfire was expected to burn through the night in heavy brush and forest on both sides of U.S. 50. Extra fuel was provided by dead pine trees ravaged by a bark beetle that has thrived during six years of drought in the Sierra.

Keith Tuma of the California Highway Patrol said U.S. 50 was closed early Tuesday afternoon to westbound traffic at California 89, about 10 miles west of South Lake Tahoe, and to eastbound traffic at Sly Park Road near Pollock Pines, about 10 miles east of Placerville.

Traffic in both directions was being detoured to California 88 or Interstate 80, two other Sierra mountain passes.

Firefighters battling the blaze were hampered by the terrain and weather. Ground crews worked mostly with hand tools and bulldozers because fire engines were unable to reach the flames.

By early evening 450 firefighters were attacking the fire. Nine air tankers and six helicopters joined the fight but were forced to abandon the scene when darkness fell, officials said.

The fire started about five miles west of Kyburz near U.S. 50 and Ice House Road and initially burned northwest and northeast from the roadway, generally away from structures scattered along the road.

In the Temecula area of Southern California, three firefighters were burned and three others were treated for smoke inhalation Tuesday when a backfire they set to help control the 3,000-acre Rainbow fire flared up, fire officials said.

Despite the injuries, the backfiring strategy worked well in keeping the blaze within the six miles of perimeter firebreaks cut by bulldozers, Dpartment of Forestry spokeswoman Beverly Atkins said.

Times staff writer Tom Gorman contributed to this story from San Diego County.