November Reno fire caused by arcing power lines, report says

Fire investigators have confirmed that arcing power lines caused a November blaze that destroyed 29 homes in Reno, causing about $7.6 million in property damage.

The report, issued by the Reno Fire Department, confirmed authorities’ suspicion that the brush fire started when high winds caused power lines to spark.

The report, released Friday, says a tree branch probably was blown onto to lines, the Associated Press reported.

The ensuing fire was then stoked by gusts of winds that reached 85 mph and eventually scorched about 2,000 acres.

Another 29 homes burned this month in a wind-whipped fire south of Reno. In that blaze, a man later  came forward to say he might have caused the blaze by improperly discarding fireplace ashes.

Prosecutors are considering whether to file charges against him.

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Photo: Residents watch the Caughlin Ranch fire in Reno in November. Credit: Liz Margerum/The Reno Gazette-Journal

 

Nevada fire fully contained; evacuation orders lifted

A large brush fire that destroyed 29 homes near Reno was fully contained Saturday morning, prompting officials to lift evacuation orders that had been in place since Thursday, authorities said.

The fast-moving blaze started midday Thursday and charred about 3,200 acres in a rural valley between Carson City, Nev., and Reno.

One woman died –- possibly of suffocation –- but the cause of death has not been determined, a Washoe County Sheriff's Office spokesman said.

On Friday investigators said an elderly man they describe as “extremely remorseful” came forward and said he may have sparked the blaze after improperly disposing of fireplace ashes.

Arson investigators will determine if the man, whose name has not been released because the investigation is ongoing, will face charges, said sherrif’s office spokesman Armando Avina.

Gov. Brian Sandoval has declared a state of emergency, making the county eligible for federal disaster funds.

A fire in November destroyed about 30 homes in south Reno.

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Photo: The ruins of a home in Pleasant Valley, Nev., south of Reno, on Friday. Credit: Associated Press/Cathleen Allison

'Remorseful' man says fireplace ashes may have caused Nevada fire

An elderly man authorities have described as "extremely remorseful" came forward Friday saying he may have caused a rural brush fire that has destroyed nearly 30 homes near Reno.

The man, who has not been identified because the investigation is ongoing, told officials he improperly disposed of fireplace ashes.

In light of the man's admission, investigators are conducting a criminal investigation into whether his actions caused the fire and whether they will merit criminal charges.

A woman died in the fire area -– possibly of suffocation -- but authorities were still working to determine how she died, said Armando Avina, spokesman for the Washoe County Sheriff’s Office.

On Friday night, fire crews continued to battle the fire, which was 65% contained. It has burned almost 4,000 acres in the Pleasant Valley neighborhood near Reno, forcing the evacuation of thousands of residents. Some evacuees have been able to return to their homes.

Fire crews worked overnight to battle the fast-moving blaze, which was stoked by strong winds Thursday.

Nevada Gov. Brian Sandoval has declared a state of emergency, making the county eligible for federal disaster funds.

A fire in November destroyed about 30 homes in south Reno. In that fire, a man died of a heart attack after he alerted a neighbor that their neighborhood was being evacuated.

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Photo: The ruins of a home south of Reno on Friday. Credit: Cathleen Allison/Associated Press 

 

Fire near Reno: 20 homes burned; 1 dead; blaze at 50% containment

 

More than 20 homes have been destroyed by a brush fire sweeping through Nevada's the Washoe Valley area, officials said Friday, and at least one death has been reported in the fire zone.

The blaze has consumed more than 3,700 acres and forced thousands of people to flee, a Washoe County spokeswoman said Friday morning. About 2,000 people remained under orders to evacuate.

Although the fatality occurred in the fire zone, officials said they were still investigating whether it was a direct result of the blaze, which began Thursday.

Approximately 150 firefighters worked through the night battling the fire, which was believed to be about 50% contained Friday morning. About 400 more firefighters were expected Friday, said Mark Regan, a spokesman for the Sierra Fire Protection District.

In all, more than 700 people are assigned to the fire, including law enforcement officers and members of the Nevada National Guard, Regan said.

"We're going to work as best we can to secure the area," he said.

The cause of the fire remains under investigation, he said in a prepared statement.

Twenty homes have been lost to the fire, but officials said about 800 homes have been saved.

U.S. Highway 395 was closed and is expected to be out of service intermittently on Friday due to damage to power lines and guard rails, according to a statement released by officials. Commuters between the Reno-Sparks area and Carson City were advised to seek alternate routes through Fernley and Silver Springs.

The blaze is similar to a wildfire that destroyed about 30 homes around Reno in November. That fire forced the evacuation of 10,000 people.

The Reno area went 56 days without precipitation before snow this week, and the weather Friday and Saturday should help efforts to contain the fire, especially by evening, according to National Weather Service reports.

Wind gusts of up to 55 mph were expected early in the afternoon, a relative relief from the 80 mph winds that fanned the flames on Thursday, according to weather service meteorologist Mark Faucette. Even better, the weather system the winds are bringing could dump three-quarters of an inch of rain in the valleys of western Nevada, Faucette said.

"We don't expect much of a chance of rain today during the day, at least down on the fire," Faucette said. "By tomorrow morning, we could have snow down on the valley floor, a tiny little bit, like an inch."

The humidity is also expected to climb to about 35% to 40%, Faucette said. It dropped to about 10% on Thursday.

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Nevada brush fire burns 3,000 acres; state of emergency declared

A large brush fire raging in a rural valley between Carson City and Reno has consumed more than 3,000 acres, destroyed at least three homes and is nowhere near containment, Nevada officials announced Thursday afternoon.

Nevada Gov. Brian Sandoval declared a state of emergency shortly before 5 p.m., following similar moves by Washoe County and Reno city officials.

Stoked by 80-mph winds, the fast-moving fire triggered the evacuation of more than 4,000 residents and cut short a scheduled speech by Vice President Joe Biden at a Reno high school.

“To say we’re in the thick of battle is an understatement,” said Reno Fire Chief Michael Hernandez at a media briefing. The news conference itself was almost postponed because authorities were set to widen the evacuation area to include the high school where the briefing took place. 

The fire, reported about noon Thursday, was traveling north toward Reno’s southern neighborhoods. It essentially split into two fires, fire authorities said, straddling both sides of Highway 395. That road connects Carson City, the capital, to Reno.

Residents of the area are still recovering from a November wildfire, started by arcing power lines, that destroyed about 30 homes in south Reno.

The Reno Gazette-Journal has reported that at least three homes have burned, but fire officials said they would not be able to calculate how many structures had burned until tomorrow.

“We are battling Mother Nature,” Armando Avina, a Washoe County sheriff’s deputy, told the Gazette-Journal. “There is no sign of moisture. If the winds don’t cooperate and firefighters have to battle this fire in this wind, the damages could be very substantial.”

Smoke choked the air Thursday afternoon in the Pleasant Valley neighborhood as deputies went door to door, pleading with residents to leave their homes. Authorities had already emptied out a nearby elementary school, as flames up to 40 feet tall approached.

The windy weather had hampered Biden’s visit earlier in the day as well. He was traveling to the area in advance of the state’s Democratic presidential caucuses this weekend, the Gazette-Journal said. His speech, which was scheduled for 11:30 a.m., was pushed back when fierce gusts forced Air Force Two to land in Fallon, Nev., about 60 miles east of Reno.

By about 1:45 p.m., when Biden began speaking, the smell of smoke was wafting through Galena High School, the newspaper said. The vice president was soon told to wrap up his remarks because fire officials needed to use the school gym as a command center.

Local officials have already deployed more than 200 firefighters and expect about 100 more from other agencies to arrive in the next six hours, Reno Fire Chief Hernandez said. 

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Photo: A Nevada Highway Patrol trooper drives past a fast-moving brush fire in Pleasant Valley, south of Reno, on Thursday. Credit: Cathleen Allison/Associated Press

 

Fire near Reno burns homes, cuts short Biden speech

Stoked by 80-mph winds, a brush fire surged through a valley between Reno and Carson City on Thursday, charring at least three homes, threatening more and forcing Vice President Joe Biden to truncate his visit to a local high school.

Flames chewed through sage brush and pine as they headed north toward the more populous Reno area, where a November wildfire sparked by arcing power lines destroyed about 30 homes.

“We are battling Mother Nature,” Armando Avina, a Washoe County sheriff’s deputy, told the Reno Gazette-Journal. “There is no sign of moisture. If the winds don’t cooperate and firefighters have to battle this fire in this wind, the damages could be very substantial.”

Smoke choked the air in a neighborhood called Pleasant Valley as deputies went door to door and begged residents to leave their homes. Authorities had already emptied out a nearby elementary school as flames up to 40 feet tall approached.

The tempestuous weather repeatedly hampered Biden’s visit to the area in advance of the state’s Democratic presidential caucuses this weekend, the Gazette-Journal said. His speech, which was scheduled for 11:30 a.m., was pushed back when fierce gusts forced Air Force Two to land in Fallon, Nev., about 60 miles east of Reno.

By about 1:45 p.m., when Biden began speaking, the smell of smoke wafted through Galena High School, the paper said. The vice president was soon told to wrap up his remarks, as fire officials needed to use the school gym as a command center.

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Wildfire at Great Dismal Swamp extinguished; it started Aug. 4

The Great Dismal Swamp fire is no more.

After nearly four months of battling the fire within the swamp's 110,000 acres of unforgiving forested marshland in southeastern Virginia, firefighters have extinguished the blaze.

Officials surveyed the burned areas within the Great Dismal Swamp National Wildlife Refuge last week and saw no smoke. An aerial inspection Monday for signs of fire also came up empty, according to a news release from the wildlife refuge.

Fire crews had been forced to battle not only the extremely difficult terrain within the wildlife refuge, but also the particular nature of a swamp fire.

The flames had ignited patches of abundant marsh peat -- soil made of partially decayed organic material such as trees and grasses. Such soil smolders, leaving no visible flames to fight, even as the fire burns underground.

The swamp fire, sparked Aug. 4 by lightning, grew to 6,500 acres over time.

“We are happy this one is out,” said Tim Craig, the refuge’s fire management officer, in a statement. “This has been a very difficult fire that moved deep into the peat soils of the swamp during a period of below-normal rainfall. However, we are now confident the ground fire is no longer active.”

Because the fire burned downward, crews pumped water from nearby Lake Drummond to flood the smoldering areas. They used helicopters to drop large pumps into the dense, inaccessible areas of the swamp that ground crews were unable to reach with bulldozers and tractors. And they lugged pipes and hoses to the pumps, which were then connected to the water source to inundate the fiery peat.

Before European settlers descended on the area in the 1600s, Native American tribes lived on the edge of the swamp and used it for hunting. But by the 1650s, tensions had risen between the groups and some Native Americans moved into the swamp, where it served as a refuge.

Two centuries later, runaway slaves developed colonies in the swamp and lived off the land, deputy refuge manager Cindy Lane told The Times in August.

Widespread logging, canals and the growth of nearby towns shrank the swamp considerably beginning in the 19th century. At its peak, the swamp was almost double its current size.

-- Stephen Ceasar

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Photo: A wildfire in the Great Dismal Swamp National Wildlife Refuge charred more than 6,000 acres since it ignited Aug. 4. Credit: Amanda Lucier/Virginia-Pilot

Illegal immigrants suspected in 30 border fires in Arizona

People entering the U.S. illegally from Mexico are believed responsible for more than one-third of human-ignited wildfires in Arizona over a five-year period, according to a government report that could stoke congressional debate over illegal immigration.

Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) said the Government Accountability Office report supports remarks he made earlier this year after his state was hit hard by wildfires. At the time, McCain was accused of "scapegoating" immigrants.

"I hope this report is a lesson to the activists and public officials that would prefer to engage in partisan character attacks rather than help focus the discussion on the vital need to secure our southern border," he said in a statement.

Illegal immigrants are believed to have started 30 of 77 fires that were investigated from 2006 through 2010, according to the report by the GAO, the investigative arm of Congress.

Federal land management agencies, however, did not investigate all 422 human-caused fires on federal and tribal land, as called for by federal policy.

"Only 18% of fires on federal land during the five-year study period were actually investigated, and thus, the number and size of fires linked to illegal border crossers may actually be higher," McCain said.

Of the 30 fires, nine burned more than 100 acres each, 16 burned 10 to 100 acres, and five burned fewer than 10 acres, according to the report.

Efforts to signal for help, provide warmth or cook food appear to be the source of the fires, according to the report. One 2006 fire that burned about 170 acres started after an injured border crosser signaled his need for help. The causes of some of the fires are not known, but the report noted that some occurred in areas known for drug smuggling.

"The presence of illegal border crossers has complicated fire suppression activities in the Arizona border region," the report said, adding that it has "increased concern about firefighter safety, and, in some instances, has required firefighters to change or limit the tactics they use in suppressing fires."

Only a limited number of fires were studied because of the lack of investigators, according to the GAO report, which could set off a congressional debate over whether federal agencies are receiving enough money from Congress to prevent fires. The report notes that the percentage of fires caused by human activity in Arizona is "consistent with the national average."

"In a time of constrained resources and competing needs, we recognize that investigating all human-caused wildland fires in the Arizona border region may not be feasible," the report notes.

The report urges officials in Arizona to look at a program in California aimed at reducing fires from illegal immigration. Cleveland National Forest has a crew that hikes trails known to be used by illegal border crossers and extinguishes abandoned campfires, according to the report. In 2008 alone, the crew extinguished 101 abandoned campfires that the report said could have grown into larger, more damaging fires.

The GAO study began in 2010, so it didn't take into account the 2011 fire season, the worst in Arizona history, that McCain said included two fires that destroyed more than 60 homes.

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Photo:  A saguaro cactus is seen in silhouette with a 2000 fire in Tucson in the background. Credit: David Sanders / Arizona Daily Star / Associated Press

More homes burn in wildfire near Reno

The number of homes damaged or destroyed by a wildfire near Reno more than doubled Saturday to at least 72 as firefighters surveyed remote areas in their continued drive to fight the blaze, which was 80% contained at nightfall.

Officials believe arcing power lines are the likely cause of the 2,000-acre Caughlin fire. Fire officials expect to have it fully contained by the middle of next week, according to a statement from the Reno Fire Department.

Officials began allowing the nearly 10,000 people who were evacuated to return to their homes at noon Saturday. The fire erupted Friday just after midnight, when heavy winds sent flames surging toward densely populated hillside neighborhoods. More than 400 firefighters battled the blaze, which sent up towering flames that could be seen from Reno’s downtown casinos.

A 74-year-old man fleeing his home died of heart failure, and more than a dozen people were treated for heart and respiratory problems. As winds died down and cold temperatures descended on the region, firefighters were able to stop the fire’s march.

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Photo: A home burns on Star Meadows Loop in the Caughlin fire near Reno on Friday.  Credit: David B. Parker / Reno Gazette-Journal

Fire near Reno may have been caused by power lines

Fire officials in Reno said Saturday they believe arcing power lines were the likely cause of the wind-driven Caughlin fire that destroyed 15 homes and damaged at least 40 others.

The 2,000-acre fire was 65% contained Saturday afternoon, and officials expect to continue making progress into Sunday, said Sharon Spangler, a spokeswoman for the City of Reno.

Officials began allowing the nearly 10,000 people who were evacuated to return to their homes.

PHOTOS: Caughlin fire

The Caughlin fire erupted just after midnight Friday, as heavy winds sent flames surging toward densely populated hillside neighborhoods.

Though no official cause for the blaze has been determined, it appears power lines are to blame. Investigators have ruled out that partying teenagers or a homeless campfire sparked the fire, Spangler said.

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Photo: Capt. Kenny DeWitt of the Reno Fire Department sprays water on a burned home. Credit: Max Whittake / Reuters