Reports: Tahoe fire has claimed 50 homes

At least 50 homes have reportedly been destroyed as the Angora fire continues to burn out of control, moving in a northeast direction toward the city limits of South Lake Tahoe, according to the Camino Interagency Command Center.

No injuries have been reported. The burned homes are in the Mule Deer Road, Mount Raineer, Clear View and Lake Tahoe Boulevard areas. The fire is now about 500 acres and growing, said public information officer Jackie Faike.

The entire North Upper Truckee area is under evacuation as the fire is growing rapidly toward the Gardner Mountain area. Structures are either on fire, or threatened and evacuations are underway. Residents in the Saw Mill Pond area and Gardner Mountain areas have been told to be prepared to evacuate.

El Dorado County Sheriff's Office has informed the Camino Interagency Command Center that 50 homes or structures have been destroyed. Roads are closed at North Upper Truckee at Highway 50 all the way to Lake Tahoe Boulevard. Authorities are alerting residents of Gardner Mountain to be prepared for evacuation.

People who have been ordered evacuated are told that they can go to the South Lake Tahoe Recreation Center on Rufus Allen. The command post for firefighters was moved to the Lake Tahoe Airport.

Reporter Susan Wood says one firefighter told her that up to 20 to 30 homes had been destroyed from his vantage point. It appears that three fires are simultaneously underway. Two of the fires appear to have been spawned by the initial fire, which started at around 2 p.m.

People have been driving frantically out of the area and others are running on foot. A motorcycle rider was seen getting off his bike and putting out a fire on a bank, Wood reported.

One man screamed "I've put three fires out already," Wood reports.

Outside agencies have been called in for help as the fire is moving fast and is being whipped by up to 35 mph winds. California Highway Patrol officers are leading the evacuations. At least six air tankers have been ordered on the fire, however, the wind has been a problem to have aircraft in the air, Faike said.

A structure was reported fully engulfed in fire at 716 Lake Tahoe Boulevard, and it is believed that ash from the fire may have caused it, according to police dispatch reports.

At last report the fire was at least 350 acres and growing in the Echo Peak area, according to Camino Interagency Command Center. A Tahoe Daily Tribune photographer reports the fire is growing, with plumes of smoke growing hundreds of feet in the air. The fire can be seen from Carson Valley.

A homeowner, Jim Furguson, who lives on Coyote Ridge, sprinted down North Upper Truckeee toward the "Y" saying, "there's not much you can."

Witness Amanda Fehd, a Meyers resident, said the fire was very small and it grew within five minutes.

" It's growing. There are humongous billows....It is terrifying to everyone to see this," she said.

Tribune staffer Phillip Sublett, who made his way down Echo Summit reported that around 4 p.m. flames were visible from Highway 50 north of Echo Summit, with columns of brown-and-white smoke billowing up over the basin.

Traffic controls were in effect on Highway 50 in Meyers to make way for the large volume of vehicles leaving North Upper Truckee Road.