Las Vegas Sun

December 5, 2009

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Fire crews near victory in Elko County

Tuesday, July 20, 1999 | 6:26 a.m.

But Tuesday brought the Wagonbox fire, which is burning in extreme northeastern Nevada and has blackened about 1,000 acres.

U.S. Forest Service spokeswoman Sharon Sweeny said calls were out for retardant and jumpers were on the way.

As the huge Rain fire south of Carlin neared containment, she said crews were being switched to the Wagonbox blaze.

Remaining firefighters were doing mop-up at the Rain fire, which was expected to be contained by morning.

Sweeny said that blaze still was being mapped, but was expected to come in at between 20,000 and 23,000 acres.

The Railroad Pass fire south of Jiggs also was expected to be contained during the night at 1,200 acres.

Sweeny said the Rain fire illustrates just how dry Elko County is and the speed with which a fire can spread.

"Within 24 hours, this went 20,000 acres," she said. "It's really, really dry, and there's a lot of cheat grass out there."

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