Mount Charleston a hot spot for fires

Friday, July 9, 2004 | 11:12 a.m.

CARSON CITY -- Mount Charleston is a potential hot spot for range and forest fires this summer because of its dry conditions, a U.S. Forest Service official said this morning.

Mike Dondero, fire manager for the Forest Service, and other officials, briefed Gov. Kenny Guinn on the fire dangers facing the state this year. So far this year there have been 333 fires covering 13,231 acres. That's 15 percent more fires than the annual average for the past five years and 28 percent more acres burned.

Mount Charleston, Dondero said, "is extremely dry -- as dry as I have ever seen it. Potential lightning coupled with 40,000 visitors on a weekend adds to the danger.

"When you have that many people, there is a chance of something going wrong," he told the governor.

While conditions pose more of a risk this year, "the bottom line is we have the same resources as last year," he said, referring to firefighters and equipment.

Some of the air tankers that carry 3,000 gallons of retardant have been grounded because of safety concerns. But Dondero said the agency has been able to add 10 single-engine planes that carry 800 gallons of retardant apiece.

In many cases the smaller planes are more effective because they can get into narrow areas to drop their loads.

One of the big tankers has been put in service and is based in Battle Mountain.

The Nevada Fire Board of Directors, composed of federal, state and local officials, reported that there have been minimal spring rains across western Nevada, normal rains in the northeast and a brief period of wet conditions over Southern Nevada.

"May and June were still warmer than normal, but the intensity of the warmth seen earlier in the spring has waned," the board said. "Precipitation in May and June also turned out to be near to below normal.'

The state will probably be drier in August than last year. And "recent patterns support more lightning with less rainfall when compared to last year," the board report warned.