Fire forces evacuation of dozens of ranches north of Reno

Scott Sonner

Wednesday, Aug. 25, 1999 | 9:08 a.m.

STEAD, Nev. - Firefighters struggled through the night to slow a wildfire that roared through a valley on the growing northern outskirts of Reno, forced the evacuation of 60 ranch homes and singed the whiskers of tigers at an animal shelter.

The fire burned about 4,500 aces of dry sage brush and juniper pine and was 40 percent contained early today, fire spokeswoman Anna Payne said. She said Antelope Valley residents who were evacuated Tuesday night would be allowed to return to their homes around 10 a.m.

Flames Tuesday night came within a few miles of a housing division in neighboring Lemmon Valley.

"It's pretty scary when they tell you to pack your things and leave," a rancher said early today while waiting in the dark for authorities to reopen roads into Antelope Valley and give him a glimpse of damage to his property.

No injuries to people or animals were reported and no homes were lost.

"It moved very rapidly," said Luana Ritch, an American Red Cross workers at an evacuation center set up at O'Brien Middle School in Stead.

Two families spent the night and a half-dozen others still were seeking help in locating loved ones forced from their homes, she said today.

Dozens of trucks hauling livestock flowed out of the area as dark fell Tuesday. A feed store in Lemmon Valley was offering free corral space for homeless cattle and sheep.

The fire, visible from U.S. Highway 395 about 10 miles north of Reno, was sparked by a vehicle fire near the Animal Ark Shelter northwest of Stead on Tuesday afternoon, spreading to the east.

"About 7:45 p.m. it took a run and the valley basically became fire," Washoe County spokesman Bob Harmon said at a command post set up at an elementary school near Reno-Stead Airport.

It burned through the animal shelter, but the animals were evacuated safely, including a tiger, a bobcat and a coyote.

"There were some burnt whiskers and singed noses, but amazingly all the animals survived," Harmon said.

Another fire sparked by lightning two days ago continued to burn near Doyle, Calif. Smoke from that fire spread into Nevada, combining with the Stead blaze to form a large plume of smoke visible from more than 20 miles away.

That fire near the near the Nevada-California line had charred about 9,000 acres of brush Tuesday night. No structures were threatened.

Firefighters also were fighting a fire near Beckwourth, Calif., just over the state line north of Reno in Sierra Valley that has burned about 150 acres.