46 Buildings Destroyed by California Wildfire, More Than 11K Residents Evacuated

Dozens of buildings burned and a major interstate was closed as gusty winds fanned a large wildfire in California’s Sierra Nevada and ignited another blaze nearby, authorities said Tuesday.

The Mosquito Fire tore through 51 buildings, destroying 46 of them, in the small community of Michigan Bluff, west of South Lake Tahoe, Placer County Sheriff’s Lt. Josh Barnhart said in a statement.

The sheriff’s office issued new evacuation orders for the region Tuesday, bringing the number of people who have fled the fire to more than 11,000, according to NBC affiliate KCRA of Sacramento.

There have been no reports of injuries or deaths in the fire, which ignited Sept. 6 in a record heat wave that left a region already parched by a historic drought primed for dangerous fire weather.

The Mosquito Fire had swelled to nearly 50,000 acres by Tuesday afternoon, and it was 18% contained, according to the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, or Cal Fire.