Governor Declares Fire Emergency in Nevada

Nevada Gov. Kenny Guinn declared a state of emergency Tuesday as state and federal crews put practically every available piece of equipment on the lines to combat dozens of lightning-sparked fires that have burned more than 100,000 acres in the state.

More than 1,000 firefighters were battling dozens of fires, from a 57,000-acre fire on uninhabited rangeland in northeast Nevada to a complex of a dozen smaller fires around Reno and Carson City.

“We’re stretched about as thin as possible,” said Jeff Arnberger, assistant fire management officer for the Bureau of Land Management in Elko, where the largest fires were burning. “Thankfully our neighbors from around Nevada and across the country are giving us a hand.”

No injuries were reported in any of the fires and no buildings burned.

However, the blazes at times closed two major highways, scorched part of the training grounds at the state fire academy and forced evacuations of homes and businesses, including a legal brothel.

The Suzie Fire 10 miles north of Elko was the biggest. It had scorched 57,000 acres of sagebrush and grass, and closed Interstate 80 for about three hours Monday.

Just east of that was a 12,600-acre fire, and a third burned 6,000 acres of grass and brush.

Firefighters welcomed a slight improvement in the weather there Tuesday, after three consecutive days of temperatures in the 90s, low humidity, strong erratic winds and dry lightning.

“We didn’t get the sustained wind and dry lightning we thought we might get,” BLM spokesman Richard Brown said from Elko.

“And [today] they are a bit more optimistic about the weather because they think they might get rain with it,” he said.

In the area east of Carson City, a fire grew to 6,000 acres overnight and had looped north around Carson City, sending a mile-long snake of fire down a hillside near McClellan Peak.

Some residents also left their homes voluntarily north of Reno, where an estimated 120 firefighters were working a complex of fires as large as 800 acres in Palomino Valley and Lemmon Valley.

Near Sedona, Ariz., rain dampened the smoldering 4,200-acre wildfire that has threatened scenic Oak Creek Canyon for more than a week, as fire managers lifted the evacuation order that sent about 400 people fleeing from their homes.