Firefighters containing Tahoe blaze

Firefighters battling the destructive Angora fire caught an unexpected break Wednesday as milder-than-expected winds allowed crews to strengthen containment lines to hem in the continuing threat and protect nearby neighborhoods.

Crews widened dirt barriers, thinned nearby brush and doused burning embers in an effort to surround the fire. In the frightening days since the fire began Sunday afternoon, it has burned 3,100 acres, destroyed 229 homes and led to evacuations of 3,000 people living amid one of California’s leading tourist destinations.

By Wednesday evening, fire officials said the blaze was 55% contained. No life-threatening injuries had been reported, although one firefighter suffered a broken hand, officials said.

“The fire has laid down. There’s not the big flame anymore,” said Kristie Schroeder, a U.S. Forest Service spokeswoman.

Authorities had worried that winds as strong as 35 mph might kick up and pose new problems for firefighters, much as the surprise flare-up had done Tuesday, when flames leaped over a containment line. Instead, authorities were relieved Wednesday that wind speeds never rose above 5 mph and that conditions stayed unexpectedly calm.

Nonetheless, officials remained jittery, noting that the parched, heavily wooded region still faces red flag warnings for the coming days.

Rich Hawkins, a fire incident commander for the Forest Service, said his “confidence goes up 20% every day this thing doesn’t break out. At the same time, timber country holds fire a long time.”

What’s more, Hawkins said, serious fire hazards remain in other areas around the state, which could strain the resources devoted to fighting the Angora blaze. “I wouldn’t be surprised if two days from now, we’re talking about the pressure to give up firefighters because of other fires screaming for them,” he said.

Firefighters worked on two key fronts -- near the small town of Meyers, about seven miles from Lake Tahoe, and on the edge of several subdivisions closer to the lake, north of a containment line that wind-driven flames leaped over in a surprise flare-up Tuesday.

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, who was in Europe when the fire broke out, and other political leaders toured the rubble in the hard-hit Tahoe Mountain neighborhood. They also received assessments from fire authorities and local officials.

“It’s really devastating and heartbreaking to see how people have lost their homes and belongings,” Schwarzenegger said. “Homes you can rebuild, but personal belongings are treasures you cannot replace.”

The governor, responding to residents’ frustrations over what they have complained are regulatory barriers preventing them from doing more to protect their property from fire, also said that finger-pointing should stop and that emotions should be channeled into investigating and containing the fire.

California Insurance Commissioner Steve Poizner estimated damages, including the destroyed homes and other property, at more than $150 million. About 750 homes are still threatened, officials said.

In some areas, residents were allowed to return home to pick up belongings or evaluate the damage to their property.

Among them was Lisa Roe, 38, who went back to her home on Lake Tahoe Boulevard, one of the first streets evacuated, to get some clothes. The house was one of the few left standing on her block. “We’re very, very lucky,” Roe said, pointing out that some homes across the street “burned right to the ground.”

The destroyed homes included one that Roe and her family lived in down the block before moving to their current residence two years ago. “I think back to what would have happened if we hadn’t done that,” she said of the move. “We would have lost everything, like tons of our friends.”

For Steve Manke, a 54-year-old real estate salesman who has lived in the Lake Tahoe area for 19 years, life started returning to normal Wednesday.

He was able to go back to his home on Tata Lane in the Gardner Mountain area, which was evacuated Tuesday afternoon. “It’s been all so surreal,” said Manke as he took an early evening walk with his dog.

He said he was leaving his white Jeep Cherokee filled with his most important belongings until the fire is fully contained. “My car was packed since Sunday,” Manke said.

Tuesday night, while taking a walk in another neighborhood, he ran into a friend who had lost his home. “We kind of talked a little bit, and as I walked away he said, ‘I love you,’ ” Manke said.

Residents also were escorted back to their homes in parts of the Tahoe Mountain area. Some streets were lined with burnt timber on the ground and trees scorched yellow.

On Pyramid Circle, the only house standing was the residence of a lieutenant in the El Dorado County Sheriff’s Department.

“He’s going to be without neighbors for two to three blocks for some time,” Don Atkinson, a sergeant in the department and a friend of the lieutenant, said while touring the neighborhood.

Authorities said the cause of the blaze, which began in the Seneca Pond recreation area, remained under investigation. The fire may have been started by a discarded cigarette or an illegal campfire, they said.

Officials from fire departments and other government agencies said preventive measures taken in recent months kept the damage from being worse.

The officials referred to fuel treatment -- measures to reduce the threat of fire, including spraying trees and thinning forests -- applied over an expanse of more than 3,000 acres.

“Twice as many homes would have been lost if we had not done these treatments,” said Terri Marceran, forest supervisor of the Tahoe Basin management unit with the Forest Service.

Kit Bailey, a fire commander, said the preventive measures “provided us several opportunities to direct that fire away from some of these homes.”

“We’ve learned a lot of lessons here,” Bailey said, “and will continue to do so.”

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tami.abdollah@latimes.com

Times staff writers Stuart Silverstein and Francisco Vara-Orta contributed to this report.