Nevada sends firefighters to aid Southern California

Tuesday, Oct. 28, 2003 | 9:35 a.m.

The Palms on Flamingo Road is collecting cases of bottled water to send to fir' fighters in Southern California.

Southern California's worst wildfires in at least 10 years drew Nevada firefighters into the battle zone Monday, and they could bring smoke to the Las Vegas Valley this week.

The National Weather Service advised Las Vegas Valley residents Monday night that smoke from the fires could arrive as soon as Wednesday.

Although Monday's sunset turned local skies pink and crimson, it wasn't from the fires, weather service meteorologist Andy Bailey said. The strong Santa Ana winds have forced smoke and ash to the west, pushing the haze over the Pacific Ocean.

"The sunset was not from the smoke, but that may change later this week," Bailey said, explaining that high clouds caught the last rays of the sun Monday.

Southern Nevada residents will notice a definite change in this October's extreme warmth as soon as Wednesday, Bailey said.

By Thursday southwest winds could pack gusts up to 40 mph in Southern Nevada.

"We could end up smelling smoke and it will be hazy if the smoke reaches us," Bailey said.

As the high pressure system that has kept Las Vegas air calm and warmer than normal gives way to a strong system pushing in from the Pacific Northwest by Wednesday, southwest winds will increase locally. The same system created the fierce Santa Ana winds that spread the wildland flames for miles.

However, the winds could push the smoke south or north of the valley, he said.

Meanwhile, Gov. Kenny Guinn sent 75 firefighters, nine trucks with other equipment and two National Guard helicopters to California after Gov. Gray Davis requested help from neighboring states on Monday.

"We'll provide everything we can," Guinn's spokesman Greg Bortolin said.

Davis phoned Guinn Monday morning and asked for assistance, Bortolin said. Frank Siracusa, chief of Nevada's division of emergency management, activated the firefighters immediately.

Firefighters and equipment from Clark County, Las Vegas and Henderson fire departments were preparing this morning to go to California to help fight the fires.

While most of the firefighters left from Northern Nevada, including Elko, Carson, Washoe, Storey and Douglas counties, some U.S. Forest Service personnel left from Las Vegas.

Forest Service firefighter Lee Nelson arrived in San Bernardino, where two fires merged, forming a single monstrous wall of flames chewing through dead fir trees and homes alike.

"Nevada's resources are being sent to California and so am I," Nelson said by cell phone.

Thick black clouds of smoke filled the horizon and particles of ash were falling from the sky, Nelson said as he drove through a checkpoint. People and animals had been evacuated from the area.