Lightning-sparked fires burning 200,000 acres across Nevada

SCOTT SONNER

Thursday, Aug. 5, 1999 | 10:17 a.m.

RENO, Nev. - Reinforcements were being sent in from around the West today to help fight dozens of lightning-sparked fires that have burned an estimated 300 square miles of range land across northern Nevada.

The fires had charred more than 200,000 acres of grass and scrub by early today, threatening ranches and forcing sporadic closures along Interstate 80.

Early today, a 10-mile stretch of the I-80 between Argenta and Battle Mountain was closed as flames came within a quarter mile of the freeway, a Nevada Highway Patrol dispatcher said. A 15-mile section of Interstate 80 near Winnemucca had been closed intermittently since noon Wednesday. By 4:30 a.m. I-80 was re-opened in those areas, and there were no further road closures across the state, a dispatcher said.

Firefighters were forced to let some fires go unattended in parts of rural north-central and northeastern Nevada while they focussed resources on inhabited areas.

No injuries were reported and only one structure - a railroad storage shed near the interstate west of Winnemucca - had been destroyed so far, fire officials said.

But they were calling in at least another 35 fire engines in anticipation of more lightning-packed storms moving into the area again today.

"We are looking at 32 fires that have started since about noon" Wednesday, said John Noneman, fire information officer for the Bureau of Land Management's field office in Winnemucca.

"For the largest one, we are estimating total acreage up to 100,000 acres," he said. "We still have some fires in excess of 1,000 acres that are unmanned."

As much as 100,000 acres of range land had burned in two complexes containing more than 20 separate fires in the north central part of the state near I-80 west of Winnemucca to near Midas. Another 80,000 acres of grass and brush were burning north of Battle Mountain and east had burned an estimated 20,000 acres by Wednesday night.

Near Reno, a fire in the PahRah Range northeast of Sparks quickly grew from 500 acres Wednesday afternoon to about 5,000 acres and was still burning out of control early today, sending a giant plume of smoke in the sky east of Reno. Officials could give no indications of containment.