Lovell Canyon blaze is nearly contained

Stephen Curran

Friday, July 19, 2002 | 10:57 a.m.

Where there were 30-foot flames just days ago in Lovell Canyon there are now only ashes and smoldering brush.

Firefighters who spent previous days amidst the burning juniper trees and sagebrush spent Thursday afternoon fighting what little was left of the blaze, which consumed more than 4,300 acres since it began Saturday.

Thursday marked the first day the fire has not grown.

"Right now we're basically in patrol and mop-up mode," said Capt. Rick Waite of the California Department of Forestry & Fire Protection, who had just returned to the fire 25 miles west of Las Vegas after a two-day break.

Officials from the U.S. Forest Service estimated that fire crews would have the blaze 75 percent contained by Thursday night, a goal they surpassed, having contained 80 percent of the fire.

"We made a lot of progress in closing out the fire today," said Forest Service spokeswoman Beth Short.

The department estimates that the fire should be fully contained by Sunday, although it could be sooner depending on the weather, Short said.

However, today's weather report is calling for mostly clear skies, Short said. The Lovell Canyon area reported light rain Thursday afternoon around 3 p.m.

"The weather should be in our favor," she said.

Officials are still worried that a "dry lightning" strike could spell disaster for firefighters by causing the ground to reignite.

Lightning was present during Wednesday's storms, but the few "smokers" caused by strikes were quickly extinguished.

Overall, the weather has worked to the benefit of fire crews. Wednesday night's rainfall dumped about half an inch of rain onto the blackened ground, according to the National Weather Service.

"Things were behaving really nice," said Duffy Grismanauskas, rural fire coordinator for the Clark County Fire Department. "As long as the weather cooperates, we should get some relief."

The weather was behaving so well that Grismanauskas, sunburned and sweaty, took his first break since crews began fighting the blaze Saturday. Since then, he has been working over 16 hours per day coordinating containment efforts.

"Now I'm going to go get some rest," Grismanauskas said.

The Forest Service sent home about 20 of the more than 500 firefighters battling the blaze Friday. No hand crews have been dismissed yet, Short said.

But, while Grismanauskas is resting, Robert Starbird, an engineer with the Clark County Fire Department, will be in the middle of his 24-hour shift.

Starbird and his crew, fresh from a trip to Jack In The Box, headed out to Lovell Canyon Thursday morning. As they were leaving, Starbird said he was unsure what to expect at the site, but was upbeat about the progress.

"I really don't know what's it like out there, but it looked good when I was leaving yesterday," he said.

But firefighters weren't the only ones putting in long hours. For Red Cross volunteers Ted Zidenberg, Cathleen McCall and Lisa Olquin, Lovell Canyon is the latest stop on a tour that has included such hotspots as Show Low, Ariz., and San Antonio, Texas, where floods have ripped through the city.

Zidenberg, a retired international logistics specialist from Las Vegas, serves as emergency services chairman for the Las Vegas Red Cross and estimates that he has been to 350 fires in his three years volunteering with the group.

"It's supporting the community, making sure we all have a good place to live," Zidenberg said. "This is a great effort to be a part of."

One of the duties of Red Cross volunteers is to set up shelters for those displaced from their homes, as was the case in Arizona. However, Zidenberg does not think they will have to do so in the canyon.

"It doesn't look like we're going to have to (open a shelter) here," he said."

To date, the fire has scorched 4,300 acres 20 miles west of town, and has put several buildings near Coal Canyon, Trout Canyon and Torino Ranch in jeopardy.

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