Firefighters gain ground on some fires, lose ground on others in Nevada

Sandra Chereb

Sunday, Aug. 6, 2000 | 1:19 a.m.

RENO, Nev. - A brush and grass fire near Fernley jumped a road and exploded to six times its size over the weekend, while firefighters elsewhere in Nevada held their own in the battle against flames.

The Fireball fire burning in the Truckee Range 15 miles northeast of Fernley was simmering at about 900 acres Saturday when afternoon winds came up and carried flames over a road, said Dave Murphy, fire information officer for the Bureau of Land Management in Winnemucca.

"Yesterday we were starting to gain the upper hand," Murphy said Sunday. "Then the winds kicked up, blew it over a road and it took off.

"It went from 900 acres to 5,500 acres in no time."

The lightning-sparked fire broke out Friday. Containment was estimated at 30 percent. No homes or structures were threatened.

Sixty miles east of Fallon, the 5,700-acre Twin Peak fire was 10 percent contained on Sunday.

In northeastern Nevada, a group of fires called the O'Neil Complex was 25 percent contained after burning 33,500 acres. Firefighters were keeping watch over scattered ranches in the area southwest of Jackpot, though none were immediately threatened.

A complex of four other fires north of Wells had burned 8,100 acres by early Sunday and was 75 percent contained.

Firefighters anticipated containment Sunday on the 3,100-acre Crusoe fire near Ely.

Containment was also near on the Golden fire near the Nevada-California line. The fire broke out Tuesday near the tiny town of Coleville, Calif., just south of Topaz Lake on the eastern slope of the Sierra.

The fire was burning in rugged, steep terrain fueled by vegetation ranging from grass, sagebrush pinion and juniper to fir and pine in the higher elevations.

In Southern Nevada, the Trout fire 45 miles west of Las Vegas has burned about 300 acres and was 10 percent contained.