Pace of Sierra Fire Slows as Winds Let Up

Cooler temperatures and decreasing winds Friday slowed the spread of a brush and timber fire here that has destroyed 24 homes.

Investigators searched the area where the blaze began for clues to what caused it.

The blaze, which began on Wednesday in a steep canyon, left nearly one-fourth of the families in this Sierra Nevada community homeless and blackened 6,550 acres just west of the Nevada state line and south of Lake Tahoe.

Hope for Containment

Alpine County Sheriff Larry Kuhl said he expected the fire’s toll to exceed $2 million.

About 1,500 firefighters remained on the lines Friday and officials said they hoped to have the fire contained by late today. Three firefighters suffered minor injuries.

Nate Leising and Larry Dodds of the U.S. Forest Service said their search of the area where the fire began had produced no obvious signs of arson or accidental cause.

Leising said there was a remote possibility that lightning strikes during storms two weeks earlier may have started a small fire that smoldered until Wednesday’s 40- m.p.h. winds fanned it into an inferno that whipped through Woodfords and two subdivisions. About 100 families live in the area.

Busy on Perimeter

While the fire remained out of control Friday, crews had managed to set up a line around 40% of the 22-mile perimeter, according to fire boss John Russell.

He said 500 firefighters were airlifted into higher elevations on the fire’s southern and western flanks Friday.

Forest Service spokeswoman Lesley Foster said the area is in high rocky ridges above Woodfords and there was no immediate threat to homes.