Firefighters make progress on Nevada wildfires

Martin Griffith

Sunday, Aug. 8, 1999 | 9:16 a.m.

WINNEMUCCA, Nev. - Cooler temperatures and higher humidity helped firefighters make progress Saturday in their battle against more than 100 fires that have blackened 1 million acres of brush and grass.

However, flames threatened numerous ranch structures in the Denio area near the Oregon border and a state transportation department maintenance station on Interstate 80 west of Elko.

On Friday, two homes were burned near Elko.

Most of the fires were burning along a 200-mile stretch of Interstate 80, northern Nevada's major artery, between Lovelock and Elko.

"I've been here for four decades and I've never seen anything like this," said Bureau of Land Management spokesman Bob Stewart.

The fires had blackened more than 1,500 square miles, an area larger than Rhode Island.

Fire spokeswoman Judith Dyess said Friday's arrival of cooler, wetter weather aided more than 3,000 firefighters battling the blazes.

"The weather turn allowed them to make a lot of progress," she said Saturday. "They still have a long way to go to contain all the fires, but yesterday was a very positive day and things are going well today, too."

No estimated containment time for the fires was being offered, Dyess said.

Smoke intermittently closed I-80 on Friday near Lovelock, Winnemucca, Battle Mountain and Elko. No further closures were reported Saturday.

One of the fires burned within 60 feet of more than a dozen mobile homes and a small store in the Mill City area 30 miles southwest of Winnemucca.

"You bet people here were nervous," said a Star Point Trading Post employee who asked not to be identified. "Everybody left the area, but we were lucky. The fire just missed us."

Most of the fires were sparked by lightning. They were burning sagebrush and cheatgrass across remote, uninhabited rangeland.

"There's no question it's going to be a major loss to wildlife habitat all through the state," Stewart said. "Deer and antelope will suffer because of the fires."

Although more than 100 separate fires were originally reported, they had merged Saturday into 19 major blazes, fire officials said.

The biggest fire in Nevada - actually a complex of seven fires - had burned about 271,000 acres along both sides of I-80 between Lovelock and Winnemucca.

The so-called Dun Glen complex fire also burned up to campgrounds at Rye Patch State Recreation Area 20 miles northwest of Lovelock, forcing the evacuation of about three dozen campers, said park supervisor Gary Orr.

The sage plain on the entire west side of Rye Patch Reservoir was charred by the fire, he added.

"We were very fortunate because we suffered no structural damage," he said. "Things were looking bad for us at one point, but the wind shifted and that ended the threat. The campgrounds are open again."

A complex of four fires in the Battle Mountain area had burned more than 200,000 acres, while another complex of six fires near Elko had charred about 180,000 acres and killed about 100 head of livestock.

No homes were imminently threatened in either area, fire officials said.