Marsh land hampers firefighters

Jace Radke

Friday, Sept. 19, 2003 | 9:20 a.m.

A fire covering about 80 acres of scrub brush in a swampy area east of Sam Boyd Stadium sent black smoke billowing over the Las Vegas Valley Thursday afternoon.

The fire started about 11:45 a.m. and sent smoke skyward for more than five hours as it burned through a portion of the Desert Wetlands Park. The fire appeared to be out by 8 p.m. A fire crew stayed on the scene through the night, but no hot spots were reported, Clark County Fire Department spokesman Bob Leinbach said.

Clark County and Henderson firefighters responded to the blaze but couldn't get their trucks down into the swampy area to put water on the fire. Instead, with the help of Bureau of Land Management firefighters, the blaze was fought by burning the brush around the fire to rob it of fuel.

"We're actively fighting the fire with back burns," Leinbach said. "When it gets close enough to where are trucks are stationed, we'll start fighting it with water."

About 10 fire engines were on the perimeter of the fire, with firefighters allowing the flames to burn themselves out.

"It isn't a danger to anything, and we can't really drive over the brush to get to it," Leinbach said. "The fire will look like it's dying out, and then it will start up again.

"It's the typical type of fire we find out here."

The marshy areas near Sam Boyd Stadium often are hit with fires. In June 2002 about 50 acres burned in the general area of Thursday's fire.

In March 2001 a much larger fire burned about 200 acres of wetlands north and east of the stadium. That fire sent ash flying into nearby neighborhoods.

No neighborhoods were threatened Thursday, and county officials said the fire apparently had little to no impact on air quality in the region.