Brushfire burns 35 acres at Desert Wetlands Park

Heather Rawlyk

Monday, June 14, 2004 | 9:24 a.m.

Ken Smith was relaxing Sunday afternoon at his home in the Sterling at Silver Springs retirement community when he heard a frantic knock on his door.

A neighbor told Smith that three fires were spreading through 35 acres of the Desert Wetlands Park, just 100 yards behind his home near Tropicana Avenue and Boulder Highway.

Smith, 55, packed a small tote and made his way to the back porch of his home, with only a 4-foot wall and a cluster of tamarisks separating him from the fires.

"It's pretty exciting, but is also really scary," Smith said. "When the wind shifted and I could see the flames moving closer, I just hoped they wouldn't reach those bushes behind us."

To Smith's relief, a single engine air tanker soared overhead, dumping a retardant along the path of the fire. Firefighters from the Clark County Fire Department joined in, drenching the land with two fire hoses.

Clark County firefighters had the blaze fully controlled by about 9 p.m. Sunday, Clark County Fire Department spokesman Bob Leinbach said.

It was a team effort, with the Bureau of Land Management preventing the fire from spreading throughout the uneven terrain and five units from the Clark County Fire Department setting up a line of defense to protect homes nearby.

The U.S. Forest Service, National Park Service and Nellis Air Force Base also provided one unit each. BLM provided a helicopter, which dumped water on hot spots.

"It's a wildland fire," Leinbach said. "We (the fire department) can't get in there with water, so we're here to protect anything valuable it may come near. We do that and BLM gets in there to create breaks in the fire."

The fire, which started about 1 p.m., later jumped a wash and created two separate blazes, Leinbach said. By 4 p.m. three separate fires were reported, he said.

Neither Martil nor Leinbach knew what sparked the fire, but both guessed it was caused by human carelessness.

"It could be something as simple as someone driving a four-wheeler and throwing a cigarette to start something like this," Leinbach said. "What you should realize is those tamarisks there, they burn like gasoline and spread the fire quickly."

No homes were affected by the fire and no residents were evacuated from their houses, Leinbach said.

Pauline Madeja, 76, who lives across the street from Smith, said she was relieved when firefighters told her she could stay in her home.

"The firemen said we were OK and said they had it under control enough that they could keep their eyes on it," Madeja said. "Some of our neighbors evacuated themselves though. They just got scared when they could hear the crackling (fire) so close."

Leinbach said brush fires like Sunday's happen in the Las Vegas Valley at least once a year.