Bone-dry Spring Mountains face serious fire risk

Wednesday, Aug. 23, 2000 | 11:23 a.m.

Fire restrictions

The U.S. Forest Service has placed restrictions on burning open fires in the Humboldt-Toiyabe National Forest, including Mount Charleston and Kyle and Lee canyons, because of the extreme fire danger from drought in the Spring Mountains.

An open fire or smoking a cigarette outside a vehicle can bring a $5,000 fine for an individual or $10,000 for a group, such as a Scout troop or a company picnicking.

Up to six months in prison are possible for starting a fire.

The only cook stove allowed in picnic areas or campgrounds in the Spring Mountains is one fueled by propane or gas.

Only pay or cellular phones can transmit 911 calls from Mount Charleston and Lee or Kyle canyons. The emergency number for other phones is 827-5306.

The tinder-dry forests of the Spring Mountains have fire officials on heightened alert, hoping to avoid a catastrophic wildfire in Kyle and Lee canyons, where 1,300 homes are nestled in the pines.

With some of the driest conditions in more than 50 years, the extreme fire danger will not change until there is a long, steady rain or snowfall, U.S. Forest Service District Ranger Tom Kukes said Tuesday.

"The potential is certainly there," Kukes said. "We could have a catastrophic fire in Kyle or Lee canyons with these drought conditions."

Normally the desert monsoon season brings welcome rain in July. "This year we never got the rain," he said.

The National Weather Service is predicting a return to the humid monsoon flow from Mexico this week, but not much rain. Instead, dry thunderstorms, with plenty of lightning are in the forecast.

Twice this summer lightning has sparked major wildfires in the range west of Las Vegas, consuming almost 3,000 acres around Buck Springs and Trout Canyon. Wildland firefighters were able to steer those blazes away from the small communities nearby, and the 150 homes were not endangered.

But Kyle and Lee canyons are the most developed areas in the Spring Mountains, with the best road access and a far greater number of daily visitors, who bring with them the danger of a fire set accidentally from vehicle sparks, an ill-thought campfire or a careless cigarette. Already 100-year-old trees are dying in the heart of Lee Canyon, where skiers couldn't find snow until February.

The entire West has been bone-dry, creating the worst fire season in decades. In Montana, more than 1 million of 5 million acres of forest, brush and grass are ablaze. Firefighters from all over the nation, including Nevada, and even the world are converging on the state to wage the battle.

On Aug. 16 two local firetrucks, one from the Bureau of Land Management and a second from the U.S. Forest Service, were dispatched to Montana.

Forest Service Ranger Lee Nelson answered the call to Montana on Monday, when a call went out seeking supervisors.

"It seems the entire state of Montana is in flames," Nelson said before he left. "Where there is fire, we go."

That leaves local fire resources strained to the breaking point. The federal Forest Service and Bureau of Land Management, Nevada Division of Forestry and 15 volunteers of the Mount Charleston Volunteer Fire Department have not had time to take action to prevent wildland fires, Becky Grismanauskas, assistant chief of the volunteer department, said.

Piles of "slash" -- debris that have dried in piles on the forest floors -- could spark a blaze. The fire danger could last for two more months, she said.

So far residents of the Spring Mountains have been lucky.

Last week lightning caused single-tree flareups in Red Rock Canyon and a 5-acre fire between Trout and Lovell canyons, Nelson said, but the flames were snuffed before they could spread.

A closer call came July 22, when lightning struck a tree and burned about an acre of brush before being stopped within feet of a cabin with a shake-shingle roof. Without much snow or rain in three years, it seemed the near-miss was a miracle, Grismanauskas said.

Officials are especially concerned about the upcoming Labor Day weekend, when thousands of visitors traditionally escape the heat of the Las Vegas Valley in the mountains. Just last weekend four illegal campfires were snuffed out by Forest Service crews.

There are no plans to close any public picnic or campgrounds over the three-day holiday, officials said. The Mount Charleston Lodge and the Mount Charleston Hotel also will be open for business.

But some preparations are being made for the worst in the canyons. Forest Service crews are clearing a line around summer homes this week, just in case.

Two 250,000-gallon tanks in Kyle Canyon are filled with water, Las Vegas Valley Water District officials said. Another 100,000-gallon tank is ready at Mount Charleston Lodge, owner Barbara Orcutt said.

Up to 30,000 gallons a day were used to fight the Trout Canyon and Buck Springs fires, most of it dropped from helicopters and airplanes.

Restrictions have been imposed, prohibiting open-flame campfires and cigarette smoking outside vehicles, even in campgrounds and picnic areas, Kukes said.

Smoking is at the top of the list for sparking a forest fire, because people wander around smoking without thinking, Kukes said.

"An ash from a cigarette could start a forest fire," he said. Or, for that matter, a spark from a vehicle's catalytic converter or exhaust system could trigger a blaze in the dry roadside brush.

The Forest Service also is encouraging residents to clear dry brush and debris away from cabins, creating what is called defensible space.

State University Regent Thalia Dondero said she visits her cabin every weekend to water young parched trees. She installed a metal roof on the cabin to help protect it from fire dangers.

"I've cut down all the weeds," Dondero said. "But it is very, very dry up there."

Mel Daines has lived on Mount Charleston for 31 years, 29 of them working for the Clark County Fire Department fighting fires in the Spring Mountains.

Although he's seen it this dry before, Daines said he has never seen so little running water in mountain creeks. And since most lightning strikes on the mountainside hit above 10,000 feet in elevation, and most homes are at 9,000 feet or below, it's not nature that worries Daines.

"Our biggest danger is uninformed people," Daines, a member of the Mount Charleston Town Advisory Board, said.