Wildfire dies down at Desert Wildlife Refuge

Thursday, July 1, 2004 | 10:41 a.m.

Pilots continued Wednesday to monitor a brush fire that swept through 1,057 acres of the Desert National Wildlife Refuge more than 40 miles north of Las Vegas, according to a release from the Bureau of Land Management.

No structures or lives were at risk Wednesday. The fire had died down naturally after running into a line of rocks, Kirsten Cannon, a BLM spokeswoman said Wednesday.

If the fire picks up, Cannon said, firefighters would be deployed to suppress the blaze, which sparked Monday afternoon.

Mormon Well Road inside the refuge is temporarily closed for safety reasons.

Meanwhile, the Square Fire Complex outside St. George, Utah, was 90 percent contained on Wednesday. It had not burned any new ground since Sunday, and fire officials expected it to be fully contained by tonight -- three days earlier than expected, according to BLM in Utah.

The Square Fires were sparked by lightning Friday. So far, 17,979 acres have been burned.

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