Lightning sparks Reno-area fires

Wednesday, Aug. 2, 2000 | 11:50 a.m.

The fire made another run Wednesday morning, burning an additional 400 acres on the southwest flank, but moving away from homes, according to Nevada Division of Forestry spokesman Steve Frady.

"It's highly visible all over town, with lots of smoke," Frady said. "We're still working on structure protection although the threat at this time has been minimized."

Frady said temperatures and winds dropped overnight and humidity rose, conditions which helped effort to halt the flames.

On Tuesday, people were asked to leave their homes in the Huffaker, Lakeside, Dryden and Holcolmb areas on the west side of U.S. 395. Frady said six structures were damaged.

Air tankers would be going up "at first light" to continue bombarding the fire with thousands of gallons of borate slurry, and helicopters would chip in with huge buckets of water, Frady said.

Thick smoke continued to pour from the fire area on Wednesday and homes were stained by the red slurry. Damage ranged from scorched roofs to a leveled garage.

About 250 firefighters battled the fire overnight, and Frady said fresh crews would be sent out Wednesday morning to give them a break.

A band of afternoon thunderstorms sparked a handful of other fires in the Reno area, where vegetation is dry as paper after a week of temperatures hovering around 100 and humidity in the teens.

Frady said more lightning was possible Wednesday.

The blaze in southwest Reno and another north of town that burned 1,000 acres in the Red Rock area marked the first wildland fires of the year in western Nevada. Fires in the rangeland of eastern Nevada have burned more than 346,000 acres this year.

Last year, the worst on record, saw 1.7 million acres blackened across Nevada.