10% contained

As of 1 p.m., the fire was about 10% contained, sitting more stationary and "digging in" -- burning within the rough perimeter firefighters have set up, said Sgt. Don Atkinson of the El Dorado County Sheriff’s Department.

"It's around 10% or so, which is a step up from what it was," Atkinson said. "This morning is was only 5%, so I think any progress they make is good. A lot depends on whether the afternoon winds come; the afternoon is when the wind traditionally starts to kick up, so a lot depends on what happens with that."

-- Tami Abdollah

Assessing their loss

Brian and Katrina Gogue, who lived with their son, Dillon, 9, and daughter, Sierra, 7, on Coyote Ridge Road, said they were certain their home was lost.

They were at a friend's house early today and saw a television crew broadcasting from their neighborhood, where the fire had swept through the day before. "The whole neighborhood was just destroyed, down to the ground," Brian said. "We're 99.9% sure it's [the house] gone." Katrina, who works as a registered nurse at a local hospital, said a firefighter had called and left a message on her cellphone, saying, "I'm sorry about your home."

Brian, who works at a local Toyota dealership not far from where the fire started, said he was at work Sunday afternoon when he noticed ash falling on the new cars on the lot.

But he said he thought the wind was blowing in the direction away from his home. Still, he called his wife, who was spending the afternoon with their kids at a neighbor's pool, and told her that there might be a fire. Katrina rushed home. When she got there, "It was almost black from smoke," she said. "Ash was falling everywhere."

Katrina, who had been concerned about wildfires, already had prepared for an emergency evacuation and grabbed the couple's wedding album and other valuables. She said that about 10 minutes later police came by and told residents to turn their sprinklers on and leave the area. Despite their loss, the couple remained upbeat.

"It will all work out," Katrina said. "Worse things could happen," Brian said.

-- Eric Bailey

One family's ordeal

Steve Yingling and his family, who have lived in the area since 1990, spent the night at a Motel 6 after evacuating their neighborhood Sunday afternoon.

Yingling said he had been particularly worried about fires this year because it's been so dry. "We should have known something bad was going to happen," said Yingling, sports editor at the Tahoe Daily Tribune.

The family's house was one of six located on a canyon road near where the fire started. The family evacuated about 2 p.m. Sunday and were able to save their dog but couldn't find their cat, Yingling said.

"But the cat is pretty resourceful, having lived up there with the coyotes all these years," he said. Yingling said his sons, Connor, 14, and Jordan, 15, were taking it all pretty hard. "It's hitting them just like it's hitting us," he said. "Every 30 or 40 minutes you think of something else you've lost."

Connor said that when he and his brother first smelled smoke they rode their bikes down to the area where the fire was burning a couple of miles from their house. "I did something I shouldn't have done," he said. "But I saw how bad it was."

(continued below)

-- Eric Bailey

More on emergency declaration

With Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger in Europe, Lt. Gov. John Garamendi signed a proclamation of a state of emergency today to trigger the flow of more federal dollars to help in the fight against the 2,000-acre blaze that had burned 165 homes south of Lake Tahoe. The fire started Sunday afternoon and was burning within two or three miles of the city of South Lake Tahoe, threatening 1,000 homes and forcing the evacuation of hundreds of residents and visitors.

Ken Pimlott, assistant deputy director with the California Department of Foresty and Fire Protection, called the fire perhaps the area's most devastating in the last 100 years.

"For me this is a very poignant situation," said Garamendi, who represented the Lake Tahoe area in the Legislature from 1974 to 1984. "This is a very difficult day for people in Tahoe and for those of us who know and love that place."

A dozen helicopters, 43 hand crews and 110 fire engines were being used to battle the blaze, said state Office of Emergency Services Director Henry Renteria, but thick smoke was hindering the use of firefighting planes. Schwarzenegger is being briefed "every hour on the hour," said governor's spokesman Aaron McLear, including a 23-minute call at 7:15 a.m. today.

-- Nancy Vogel

Searching for the cause

Officials do not yet know how the fire started. "It potentially could have been an illegal campfire, but I don't know that for a fact," said Sgt. Don Atkinson of the El Dorado County Sheriff's Department. "There's no evidence yet as to what caused it, and it could have been a number of things. There’s a fire warning every day in the summer in Tahoe, and it’s pretty much posted as high fire danger, especially in those areas, because it’s very thickly wooded."

-- Tami Adbollah

'It is very, very depressing'

State Assemblyman Ted Gaines (R-Roseville), who represents the district that includes South Lake Tahoe, said he was returning from a NASCAR race at Infineon Raceway in Sonoma when he learned about the fire. He said he rushed home and drafted a letter requesting that Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger declare a state of emergency in the Tahoe area. Gaines said the governor called him from Europe, where he is traveling, and "told me he'd do all he could. He said, 'We'll be doing all we can, and I'm very concerned about the loss of property and happy that there's no loss of life.' " Gaines said the governor told him he would tour the fire-damaged area Wednesday.

Gaines was given a tour this morning of the Tahoe Paradise neighborhood. "It is very, very depressing," he said. "It's scorched earth. Like a war zone." He said he saw a Chevrolet truck with aluminum wheels that had melted into a puddle. But a few things survived the flames. At one house, where only a chimney was left standing, the landscaping remained unscathed, Gaines said. He also saw an intact for-sale sign outside a house that had been consumed by the fire.

-- Tim Reiterman

Anatomy of a firefight

Today is turning out to be a much better day for firefighters than Sunday. With less wind, there is less smoke, and that allows a much more effective firefight.

"There were winds yesterday; it was sort of an explosive start, from my understanding.... Once the fire started hitting the timber, it really started to explode. With the external wind blowing yesterday, it really made it dangerous," said Sgt. Don Atkinson of the El Dorado County Sheriff’s Department.

"Today, fortunately, we haven't had the [external] winds, so we've had a chance for the firefighters to have a chance to map it [the fire] and know where to fight it from. But that changes from moment to moment. So the plan they have right now might not be good in five minutes. So they have to be flexible. Right now they’re trying to isolate it so it doesn’t escape from the boundaries they have right now."

One major problem with battling the blaze Sunday was heavy smoke. "Smoke cuts visibility, and we had almost zero visibility with the smoke," Atkinson said. "It makes it difficult not only for people in the basin but also for the firefighters, who can't see. The wind moves the smoke around, cuts visibility and makes it much more difficult to fight it." People have reported ash falling all over South Lake Tahoe, and many residents who have not yet evacuated are watering down their homes and roofs and leaving sprinklers on in hopes of preventing embers from igniting.

-- Tami Abdollah

Air assault begins

With less wind and smoke, firefighters were able to use more air support today -- something they could not do Sunday because of heavy smoke. About 700 firefighters have responded from California and Nevada, as well as all over the Western United States, including Oregon and Washington.

"They're doing airdrops with water from aircrafts," said Sgt. Don Atkinson of the El Dorado County Sheriff's Department. "It's such a hot fire, and it was so intense for a while, you really couldn't get any firefighters in the area. They're concentrating right now on trying to save homes and keep homes from burning. The fire's pretty much consuming trees and vegetation in the burnt area. We’re lucky right now in that the winds are not moving, so it’s given the firefighters the chance to see if they can get the upper hand on it. But it not has been brought under control as of yet."

-- Tami Abdollah

State of emergency

Lt. Gov. John Garamendi declared a state of emergency in the Lake Tahoe area. He spoke at a news conference in Sacramento. (The governor is on a trip in Europe.)

A heavy toll

So far, there is no monetary estimate on the destroyed structures, but the figure may be quite high. "I know most of the houses in that area are in excess of $600,000, so it could certainly get way up there," said Sgt. Don Atkinson of the El Dorado County Sheriff's Department. "There are a lot of million-dollar homes in that area. In the area there is a large proprtion of people who are there full time, and there are a large number of vacation houses that are seasonally occupied."

The Gardner Mountain area to the north of the fire is on standby for evacuation because of the many homes in the area. "We haven't evacuated that," Atkinson said. "There's no immediate plans, but we're watching the fire, and if it becomes necessary to evacuate people we will do what's necessary."

-- Tami Abdollah