Crews take advantage of rainfall

Stephen Curran

Thursday, July 18, 2002 | 10:58 a.m.

New Mexico firefighters Clinton Bellingar and Tom Nelson, part of an elite corps of firefighters specially trained to battle large-scale wildfires, traveled more than four hours to help fight the blaze consuming Lovell Canyon.

But instead of charging in toward the burning sagebrush and juniper trees, they spent Wednesday afternoon sleeping under their truck, having arrived just in time for a welcome rain that quenched Southern Nevada.

"We got here about half an hour ago and we don't even know where (the fire) is," Nelson said Wednesday evening.

The more than 500 firefighters called out to the Lost Cabin Fire in Lovell Canyon received a gift in the form of about half an inch of rain. The rain helped firefighters make progress against the blaze burning about 25 miles west of Las Vegas.

Fire officials said this morning crews had contained up to 30 percent of the 4,300-acre blaze. As of last night only about 10 percent of the fire was contained.

"After the rain, it looks really, really good for a change," said Battalion Chief Doug Lannon of the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection.

Beth Short, a spokeswoman for the U.S. Forest Service, said that if all goes well today, "we should be 75 percent contained by tonight" and fully contained by Friday night.

"We're feeling really optimistic," Short said this morning. "If everything goes smoothly, things should continue to improve."

The National Weather Service forecast calls for isolated thunderstorms which could bring a quarter of an inch over the mountains. That, coupled with higher humidity than normal, could further dampen the fire.

But firefighters shouldn't breathe easy just yet, as erratic winds and lightning continue to threaten the area with new challenges, said Duffy Grismanauskas, rural fire coordinator for the Clark County Fire Department.

"We're probably going to get some more lightning, and that's a curse," he said.

Lightning strikes could start other fires and force fire crews to shut down air operations, a crucial part of fighting a fire this size, Grismanauskas said.

A lightning strike Saturday night caused the Lost Cabin Fire, officials said. Lightning strikes overnight didn't cause any new fires, officials said.

The potential for lightning, coupled with unpredictable wind directions, make it difficult to battle the fire, even though the much-needed rain helped, said Bob Leinbach, spokesman for the Clark County Fire Department.

"The longer it rains the better," Leinbach said. "The tragic thing is that this didn't happen (Tuesday)."

The rain, which began about 4 p.m., slowed the blaze, which grew from 3,400 acres in the early-morning hours Wednesday, Short said.

To help battle the blaze, the agency has assigned 31 fire engines, 24 hand crews, four air tankers and two helicopters to the Lost Cabin area, and 12 additional hand crews have been ordered, Short said.

In addition to the added resources, Nevada has qualified for assistance from the Federal Emergency Management Agency, allowing the state to recoup 75 percent of the costs it will spend on future fire suppression on state and private lands this year, said Steve Robinson, Nevada's state forester.

"It helps us pay for suppression costs and we need the help," he said.

To date, the fire has caused $330,345 worth of damage since it began Saturday, according to estimates from the U.S. Forest Service.

For firefighters near the fire line, the fire that threatened Torino Ranch Tuesday night was nothing they couldn't handle, said Troy Jepson, an engineer for the Clark County Fire Department.

"I've seen some hairy stuff out there, but I've been in worse," he said. "It was a little scary for a while though."

Nationwide, 51 large fires have consumed more than 421,000 acres throughout the country, almost exclusively in western states, according to the National Interagency Fire Center.

Even as these fires force fire personnel to compete for resources, firefighters at Lovell Canyon are doing a good job keeping the blaze under control, Grismanuskas said.

"We do realize that half the West is burning, but we're in a condition where we're doing what we can do," Grismanauskas said. "Everyone's getting beat up pretty good."

Sun reporter Mary Manning contributed to this story.