Kirkwood Mountain Resort in the Sierra Nevadas was forced to close lifts after a power generator caught fire and is expected to re-open 9:00 a.m. Saturday.

An engine filter over-heated causing a fire in the power generator at about 2:00 p.m., consuming the building that housed it, with the roof catching fire that was difficult to put out.

People smelt the smoke 30 to 40-minutes before the fire began to blaze in the building housing the generator, which gave Kirkwood staff and visitors sufficient time to evacuate the building, including another 150-employees from an employee housing building.

No one suffered any injuries in the blaze, however, the resort had to evacuate everyone from the mountain, since the fire cut-off electricity to the ski lifts, restaurants, commercial buildings and about 600-residential buildings on the Kirkwood property.

Over half of Kirkwood's guests with weekend reservations cancelled them, while the remaining 2,000 at the resort waiting for the power to be restored were fed pasta and taco dinners.

With one portable power generator, Kirkwood is having two more driven to the resort from Yuba, Calif., and which are expected to provide over twice the amount of energy necessary for powering both the mountain and the valley for the rest of the season.

With the power expected to be restored later tonight, it is estimated the fire could cost the mountain resort $6-million to $7-million in property damage and lost revenue.

The relatively new Caterpillar generator will be examined by its manufacturer for finding out the cause of the fire.