Nevada fires giving ground

Tuesday, Sept. 3, 1996 | 11:59 a.m.

"Things are looking real good today," fire information officer Stephanie Neal said Monday. "All I can say is it's been one long week."

The year's largest wildfire in Nevada, the 140,500-acre Upper Humboldt complex fire 50 miles east of Winnemucca, was 90 percent contained Monday.

The 57,000-acre Quinn-Odell fire, 10 miles east of McDermitt on the Oregon border, was about 80 percent contained Monday.

Fire officials said all active fires in Nevada should be contained by Wednesday.

The fires, burning primarily sage and grass on land managed by the Bureau of Land Management, were among more than 70 blazes in Northern Nevada touched off by lightning Aug. 26.

Several ranches were threatened in the week of fires, but only one old mine building was destroyed. The fires also forced intermittent closures of Interstate 80 and U.S. 95.

A firefighter was severely burned in the Upper Humboldt complex fire Saturday and was in satisfactory condition at University Medical Center's burn facility in Las Vegas. No other major injuries were reported.

The 50,000-acre Winnemucca complex fire north of Winnemucca and the 30,000-acre Bob's Flat blaze north of Beowawe were contained earlier.

Fire officials said it was one of the worst weeks for wildfires in Nevada in recent decades.

"We haven't seen acreage figures like that in quite some time," fire information officer Pam Gardner said. "There are a lot of firefighters who are happy the end is near."

Fires in the east Great Basin have charred 1.1 million acres so far this year, while those in the west Great Basin have burned 500,000 acres, she said.

Gardner said she realized the human toll of the fires only after taking a drive around the Winnemucca area.

"I could see where the fire burned right up to the grass of people's lawns," she said. "There were some real close calls and it must have been hairy for a lot of people."