A savage blaze powered by strong winds swept across a vast area near Lake Tahoe in the Sierra Nevada mountains, burning down more than 200 homes and prompting the evacuation of 1,000 persons.

The wildfire erupted Sunday a few miles south of the famous lake, but quickly spread to other regions due to the powerful wind. About 750 firemen fought with the fierce blaze, but couldn’t contain it and save some 220 residences from being destroyed.

The drought that battled the region for weeks fueled this calamity, that burned about 2,400 acres Sunday and more than 800 hectares on Monday.

Even if the wind lost power Monday, the flames are still threatening about 500 residences in the city of South Lake Tahoe, local officials announced. No fatalities were reported, but the damages inflicted are huge, mostly to the wildlife.

The Agora Fire, as it was dubbed, is believed to be the worst to hit the region for over a half of century, as the town’s mayor Kathay Lovell acknowledged.

”This is the worst fire I can recall. It just shows you the power of this. It is absolutely heartbreaking. We've got firefighters who are fighting the fire and who have lost their own homes,” Lovell said.

The Forest Service informed that heavy work is being done in order to isolate the fire and reopen communication routes, as three highways were closed by the California Highway Patrol.

More bad news came from the meteorological department that warned wind is bound to pick up speed by Wednesday, a phenomenon that already banned the use of helicopters and pushed the blaze and ashes to inhabited areas.