Fire Rages Near Lake Tahoe : Disaster: Winds hamper firefighters as 50-mile stretch of U.S. 50 is closed. Six homes and 20 summer cabins are lost.

A wind-whipped forest fire raged out of control through the Sierra Nevada east of Sacramento on Wednesday, burning more than 20,000 acres in nearly 30 hours.

The fire in the El Dorado National Forest destroyed six homes and 20 summer cabins, fewer than officials believed on Tuesday. Three firefighters were reported injured.

A 50-mile section of well-traveled U.S. 50 was closed from Pollock Pines to Myers near South Lake Tahoe, and about 150 people were evacuated from the small communities of Whitehall, Riverton, Kyburz and Strawberry along the highway.

“This is a firefighter’s worst nightmare--low humidity, high winds, prolonged drought conditions,” said Pat Kaunert, a spokesman for the U.S. Forest Service. “It all adds up to spell disaster for the forest. It will be a miracle if we can hold the fire back with these kinds of winds.”

More than 2,245 firefighters battled the blaze in the steep, rugged terrain as helicopters and airplanes bombed it with water and fire retardant.

On Wednesday afternoon, the fire picked up as winds of 20 m.p.h. and higher blew through the mountains. North of the highway a huge column of white smoke billowed high in the air, and on the south side of the highway near Whitehall flames raced down the American River canyon.

Firefighters were stationed along the highway to save remaining structures, but as the fire moved northeast it burned a Forest Service lookout tower on Big Hill. The inferno threatened to destroy a major communications station nearby and more than 10 popular campgrounds in an area known as Crystal Basin.

Despite an order to evacuate, some people stayed behind in the hope of saving their property. They included a group of 10 family members and friends who holed up at the Ice House resort, a motel-restaurant-store and campground in the fire zone.

The fire came within a quarter-mile but spared all the structures on the property.

“You could see the glow,” said manager Julie Wentworth, who confessed to having a sleepless night. “They told us we had to leave and we told them we wouldn’t.”

Three firefighters were slightly injured, at least two hurt by falling debris. Many deer hunters were in the area when the fire started but all apparently left safely.

The cause of the fire was not determined, although it was believed to be of human origin. It started on the north side of U.S. 50 but quickly jumped the road. Called the Cleveland Fire because it began near a Forest Service facility called the Cleveland Corral, it was burning at a rate of 500 acres an hour.

Most structures destroyed were on Forest Service property and were leased only as part-time residences.

“It’s a nice place to live, but it’s real hazardous when a big fire comes through,” said Frank Mosbacher, a Forest Service spokesman.

California Wildfire

A rapidly moving wildfire that began Tuesday near Riverton has scorched 20,000 acres of forest and rugged backcountry. About 150 people who live along U.S. 50 were evacuated. About 25 structures have burned, most of them cabins.