Crews worry parched land prime for fire

Friday, June 14, 1996 | 11:59 a.m.

Firefighters are gearing up for a long, hot summer as soaring temperatures and dryness put Southern Nevada's forests at an extreme risk for fires.

It's not even Fourth of July and already two uncontrolled fires blazed Thursday in the Spring Mountains west of Las Vegas.

One burning above the Lee Canyon ski area destroyed half an acre of ancient bristlecone pine trees, while another, started by a discarded cigarette, consumed an acre in Deer Creek, north of Kyle Canyon.

There were 66 wildfires in Southern Nevada in 1995. So far this year, the Spring Mountains have had 11 blazes and firefighters have responded to 29 calls.

"It looks like we're going to have a really hot fire season," said Dee Gardner, spokeswoman for the U.S. Forest Service.

In Caliente, 180 miles northeast of Las Vegas, 22,000 acres had burned and will cost federal and state fire managers an estimated $300,000 to fight, said Mark Blankensop, Forest Service fire management officer.

Southwestern states are so parched that everything from west Texas to all of Nevada and California has been classified as very high to extreme fire danger, Blankensop said.

The last fire battled by a combination of federal and state agencies in 1995 occurred Oct. 25 in the Spring Mountains. Then firefighters had to return immediately after the new year.

Most fires -- 99 percent -- start from a runaway campfire, Blankensop explained. Campfires are allowed in designated campgrounds, but no charcoal fires are allowed anywhere because briquettes can smolder for days.

But the deserts and mountains are so dry this year, a match or cigarette butt tossed away or a spark from an engine starting over a patch of brown grass could ignite a wall of flame.

Les Fadness, state Division of Forestry manager, fears the 3,000 acres in Lee and Kyle canyons under his watchful eye could become an inferno, destroying cabins and recreation areas.

"I'm the only one left in the state office," he said, noting that states share forest firefighters. Blazes in Alaska, Arizona, New Mexico and Colorado have already taxed Nevada's work force.

No fireworks of any kind are allowed in the national forests or at the national recreation areas, and that applies to Lake Mead, said Bob Thordahl, fire manager there.

Last year 27 fires erupted at Lake Mead, only one caused by lightning, he said. The rest were started from campfires and vehicles.

For the past year, the Bureau of Land Management, state and federal forest services and the National Park Service have shared communications at a new center on Rancho Drive, north of Decatur Boulevard. By coordinating firefighting efforts, the combined agencies hope to keep Nevada fire-free.