Early fires put officials on guard

Thursday, June 9, 2005 | 11:14 a.m.

Firefighters fear brush and grass fires that have burned through some areas in Southern Nevada in recent days are heralding a summer of large blazes.

Clark County Fire Department spokesman Bob Leinbach said that record amounts of rain earlier in the year spurred the growth of grass and brush that has died and dried out. Hot winds and low humidity are combining in a potential for blazes that has not been this high in the valley in years, Leinbach said.

"We've got conditions that are just volatile, and we're nearing fireworks season," he said.

Local fire departments already have tackled several brush fires this week, including a 75-acre blaze in the southeast valley.

Las Vegas Fire & Rescue spokesman Tim Szymanski said all fireworks are illegal in the valley until June 28 when charity groups can begin selling only the mildest forms of pyrotechnics. Those can be sold and used in the valley until midnight July 5, when all fireworks are illegal again, he said.

Outside the valley, the Bureau of Land Management led efforts this week to contain a 20,000-acre wildland fire burning in rugged and remote terrain across Nellis Air Force Base bombing range and Nevada Test Site lands.

By 6 p.m. Wednesday, firefighters had the blaze contained, but it had charred nearly 31 square miles on Air Force and Nevada Test Site lands, officials said.

No injuries were reported and no structures were burned in the fire that spread from Dome Mountain, roughly 70 miles northwest of Las Vegas, a National Nuclear Security Administration statement said. The blaze entered the Test Site's northwest area about 1 p.m. on Monday.

But as winds dropped to 10 mph or less on Tuesday, the fire did not grow much in the rocky terrain, Forest Service spokeswoman Beth Short said. The fire was expected to be 100 percent controlled by 6 p.m. Friday, she said.

"Today we're continuing to work to bring it under full control," Short said this morning.

In addition to the BLM, the Forest Service, the Defense Department and the Energy Department had personnel in the ranks of the 490 firefighters battling the flames at the fire's height, she said.

Over the several days that the Test Site fire has burned, a total of 17 "hot shot" crews composed of nearly 1,000 people worked to control and contain it, said Steve Robinson, a staff member for Gov. Kenny Guinn.

The flames came within 13 miles of the Yucca Mountain Project, the site where the federal government wants to bury the nation's high-level nuclear waste, officials said.

Nine air tankers and 14 hand crews pitched in to draw a line around the fire and stop its progress, Short said. Air crews dropped fire retardant in an effort to prevent the fire's spread.

Lightning sparked the fire and the first fire crews had arrived on Friday to battle the blaze, Short said.

By this morning, just 129 BLM personnel were still on scene mopping up the fire and putting out hot spots, she said.

A 75-acre brush fire near Race Track and Warm Springs Roads burned on Monday night, Henderson Fire Department investigator Don Spellman said, but the BLM had to fight the fire because the terrain was too rugged for urban fire trucks.

"I was the first one on the scene," said Spellman, who checked to see if a motor vehicle accident had started the fire, but no accident had occurred and no one was injured. The cause of the fire is still under investigation.

Also on Monday, firefighters doused a three-acre blaze at Eastern and Maule avenues south of Sunset Road.

Fire crews were able to protect nearby structures because winds were not as strong as they had been Sunday.

"If it had been the day before, the winds could have caused it to jump the road and take off," Leinbach said.

The greatest concern firefighters have is that a small fire has the potential to grow rapidly and threaten homes, roads and utilities.

"All it takes is a spark," Leinbach said.