Force of 600 facing blaze northwest of Las Vegas

Monday, June 5, 2000 | 7:34 a.m.

A force of some 600 firefighters from several Western states is being amassed to fight a growing wildfire that has scorched more than 1,000 acres of the Spring Mountain National Recreation Area.

The fire was first reported Saturday morning in an area between Las Vegas and Pahrump, Nev., along Wheeler Pass. It was reported 25 percent contained Sunday morning, but 8 mph winds out of the southwest Sunday afternoon fanned the embers, causing the wildfire to spread.

The winds are expected to increase to 15 mph today and Tuesday, with gusts up to 25 mph.

The incident commander, Tooter Burdick of the Bureau of Land Management's Ely field office, said he hopes to have the fire fully contained on Thursday.

"We're going to win," Burdick said. "We've got enough resources, and we're going to whip it."

Burdick is unsure how the fire started. He said people were probably in the area, where a primitive campsite is located.

An unoccupied historic cabin at Wheeler Well is the only structure threatened by the fire, according to U.S. Forest Service spokeswoman Betty Blodgett.

No injuries have been reported from the blaze.

Some 250 firefighters were battling the blaze late Sunday, but the number was expected to more than double today as additional firefighters from throughout the West were rushed to the scene. Firefighters from California, Arizona, Utah and Montana were responding to the scene, rugged high-desert wildlands.

Burdick said winds and topography were causing the fire to climb to higher ground, where DC-3 and DC-4 air tankers from Cedar City, Utah were trying to stave off the blaze with fire retardant. The aircraft were staging their operations out of the Pahrump airport.

"It's real hot," Burdick said. "There's only one way in and one way back out," he said about conditions on the fire line."

Burdick said firefighters on the fire line were working in temperatures of 90 to 95 degrees.