Fires char tens of thousands of acres in Nevada

Monday, July 12, 1999 | 4:31 a.m.

Meanwhile, investigators searched for clues to the causes of five suspicious fires along the Interstate 80 corridor in the Sierra. Those fires near the California border sent a smoky haze into the Reno-Sparks area.

Firefighters neared containment Monday of a fire near the small Elko County mining town of Midas, which broke out Thursday and roared through 72,000 uninhabited acres of grass and shrubland.

BLM fire information officer Nick Zufelt said the fire should be declared extinguished by 6 p.m. Tuesday. The cause of the blaze had not been determined.

An all terrain vehicle was being blamed for igniting the other blaze near Winnemucca. That fire began around noon Sunday, sparked by an ATV in tinder-dry grass, he said.

By early Monday it had charred 6,000 to 7,000 acres, 15 miles south of Winnemucca, and firefighters braced for another tough day, with afternoon breezes, low humidity and temperatures near 100 degrees, Zufelt said.

He would not predict when the fire would be contained. No structures were immediately threatened.

In western Nevada, investigators were trying to determine the cause of five suspicious fires that broke out around the same time Sunday along Interstate 80.

The largest of these burned about 150 acres of brush and timber near Floriston, just west of the Nevada-California line, fire spokeswoman Laurie Laursen said.

About 500 firefighters, assisted by 24 engines, five water tenders, two bulldozers, one air tanker and four helicopters, almost had it contained late Monday. No homes were damaged or destroyed and none were threatened.

The other four fires that broke out Sunday ranged from one to three acres in size and were quickly put out, leaving haze in the air. Particulates from the smoke weren't recorded in levels high enough to trigger any special health warnings, but state health officials did urge people sensitive to hazy conditions to remain inside.