Racing Wildland Fire Threatens Reno Homes

Tuesday, Aug. 6, 1996 | 11:59 a.m.

"It's laying down real good," fire spokesman Phil Sexton said early today.

Ribbons of flames flickering along the western Sierra Nevada foothills illuminated the predawn horizon as firefighters and residents waited uneasily to see what the day would bring in the battle against the 6,000-acre blaze.

During the night, firefighters lit backfires near expensive homes in an effort to deplete the fuel before the flames arrived.

Officials said at least one outbuilding was believed destroyed and several homes were damaged but remained standing.

A hazy pall blanketed the skies over the Truckee Meadows, stretching as far away as Fallon 50 miles to the east and Minden-Gardernville to the south.

The fire broke out at 4 p.m. Monday in the Belli Ranch area near Verdi west of Reno. Whipped by winds to 35 mph, the flames raced through thick brush and licked at the doorsteps of homes, at times consuming as much as 1,000 acres an hour.

"It was the fastest thing I ever saw," said Spence Bocks, whose home was scorched by the flames but left intact. "It was just screaming across the field ... It just kept coming like a train."

The fire burned along the south side of Interstate 80 near the California line before pushing south and east. The interstate was shut down for about five hours before it was reopened at 10:30 p.m.

On Monday, the raging inferno sent a churning cloud of smoke towering above Reno.

Residents in the area nearest the fire's origin were simply told to grab their families, their pets and a few belongings and to get out. Structure engines and crews stood by the threatened homes and firefighters went door-to-door making sure people were out.

The Belli Ranch and River Banks subdivisions were evacuated while voluntary evacuations were imposed for residents in the Caughlin Ranch and Juniper Hill subdivisions.

Authorities were allowing some residents to return early today, but Sexton said it was too early to tell if the homes were out of danger.

"The current threat is still the same," he said. "The control problems are homes in the wooded areas and steep terrain."

The fire was blamed on people but the exact caused remained under investigation.

Eight air tankers and at least four helicopters battled the blaze from the air on Monday as firefighters from surrounding areas scrambled to join the ground assault. The air attack was hampered by the fickle winds and the amount of smoke in the air, then was grounded when darkness fell. It resumed at daybreak.

Seventy-five engines were positioned near homes and another 50 were on the way. A total of 660 were manning the lines early today and more were expected to arrive throughout the day.

There was no estimate on when the fire would be fully contained or controlled, Sexton said. A fire is contained when it stops growing. Control means it is out.

Sexton said 1,200 acres were destroyed in the heavily-timbered Mount Rose Wilderness area.