Winds fan hot spots in Trout Canyon wildfire

Thursday, Aug. 10, 2000 | 11:18 a.m.

Firefighters braced for winds as high as 25 mph today as they worked to finish containing a wildland fire at Trout Canyon, 30 miles west of Las Vegas, by tonight.

Meanwhile, fires continued to burn across the West, forcing officials to close more than 6 million acres of land in Montana to the public, a move prompted by blazes that have burned 300,000 acres and caused hundreds of evacuations. At least 52 homes have burned.

More than 20,000 firefighters were battling 70 large wildfires across 992,000 acres in the parched West on Wednesday. This year 4.3 million acres have burned, about twice the 10-year average.

Almost 500,000 acres have burned in Nevada this year.

The Trout Canyon fire, which has burned for a week, was declared 90 percent contained at 6 p.m. Wednesday with crews continuing to mop up, patrol and quell hot spots. Officials expected to declare the fire contained by 6 p.m. today.

Two helicopters continue to drop water on the blaze throughout the day. Up to 3,000 gallons of retardant was dropped on the fire on Wednesday.

However, local winds were expected to kick up today, said Paul Skrbac, the National Weather Service meteorologist assigned to the U.S. Forest Service for this fire.

Fifteen National Guardsmen from Las Vegas arrived to provide food and support for exhausted firefighters who came from as far away as Alaska and North Carolina to battle the blaze on Griffith Peak. No firefighters have been released from the 878-acre fire, Forest Service spokeswoman Paula Cote said.

A total of 300 firefighters continued to fight the fire today. The Midnight Suns hotshot crew from Alaska camped out on the mountain to mop up flare-ups overnight, Cote said. Hotshot crews are specialized teams of experienced wildland firefighters who travel widely during the fire season.

There was no threat from the fire to the tiny community of Trout Canyon, where about 25 residents had watched flames consume pinyon, juniper and conifer trees over the weekend.

"The fire suppression and structural protection work that was completed before we arrived with Clark County, Nevada Division of Forestry and federal agency crews is truly impressive and is making our jobs easier," new incident commander Lewis Kearney said.

Former incident commander Tom Dean was relieved of his duties after 13 straight days fighting Western wildfires.

While heat exhaustion is the major threat to the Trout Canyon firefighters, no major injuries have been reported, Cote said. One firefighter with a sprained ankle was evacuated from the mountain late Tuesday night, she said.

Firefighting resources have been stretched thin throughout the West.

The National Interagency Fire Center in Idaho is recruiting up to 80 people from New Zealand and Australia to join domestic fire crews that already include firefighters from Canada and Mexico. It is uncertain when they will arrive, the center's manager Neal Hitchcock said.

In Montana, hiking, fishing and all other activities on state land are forbidden beginning Friday unless a permit is obtained. Only homeowners who must cross the lands to reach their homes are exempt.

"We would not do this if it were not absolutely essential," said Montana Gov. Marc Racicot, who encouraged people to pray for relief from the devastation.

In Colorado's Mesa Verde National Park, officials said they hoped to have a 5,000-acre fire that threatened ancient cliff dwellings fully contained by Friday.

In Utah, fire officials said higher humidity was helping them in their battle against 10 major fires covering more than 55,000 acres. But Oregon has joined Washington state in declaring a state of emergency, freeing National Guard troops to be called up for firefighting duty.

Winds of 25 mph fanned the flames of a 3,000-acre fire in Klickitat County, Wash., while about 160 miles to the north, a fire on the Colville Indian reservation near the Grand Coulee Dam burned 7,000 acres.

In Idaho, a 26,700-acre blaze north of McCall threatened to cross the Salmon River. Land managers in nearby Nez Perce National Forest were trying to protect three historical cabins containing ancient Indian rock art.