Friday, June 24, 2005
Copyright © Las Vegas Review-Journal

WILDFIRE SEASON: Fires force evacuations

Firefighters rush to area as 32 blazes char more than 21,000 acres

A plane drops water along a fire line near Goodsprings. Ignited by lightning on Wednesday, the blaze had charred more than 15,000 acres of creosote, Joshua tree and other desert shrubs by Thursday night and was the largest of 32 Southern Nevada fires. Photo by John Gurzinski. Boy Scouts from Summerlin Troop 423 watch the smoke and flames from a large wildfire near Goodsprings. They were among 172 Scouts from various troops who were evacuated from Mount Potosi after the flames came within a mile of their camp. Photo by John Gurzinski.

Fire blackened Mount Potosi on Thursday, prompting officials to evacuate hundreds from nearby camps and ask that residents of the small community of Mountain Springs voluntarily leave their homes.

The blaze, which officials had named the Goodsprings fire, began with a lightning strike on Wednesday just west of Jean. As of Thursday night, it had charred more than 15,000 acres of creosote bushes, Joshua trees and other desert shrubs and had grown into the largest Southern Nevada wildfire in several years.

It was also the largest of 32 lightning-sparked blazes burning across Southern Nevada late Thursday, charring more than 21,000 acres and marking an ominous beginning to the wildfire season.

Between 800 and 1,000 firefighters had arrived in Southern Nevada since Wednesday to battle the blazes, from Goodsprings in the south to Lincoln County in the north, according to Kevin Hull, state fire management officer for the Bureau of Land Management.

Officials consider 10 of the blazes to be major wildfires.

A wildfire burning on the Desert National Wildlife Refuge, about 14 miles north of the intersection of U.S. Highway 93 and Interstate 15, grew to 3,800 acres on Thursday. Another fire just north of the Clark-Lincoln county line in the Sheep Mountains charred 1,500 acres. And a third fire in the area, the Wamp fire, had also burned 1,500 acres.

Because they threatened no structures, officials assigned no firefighters to battle the three blazes.

"Assets are so stretched right now, I think most of the activity is centered around where structures and other threats are," said Dick Birger, project leader of the Desert National Wildlife Complex.

A blaze near Pahrump, at Mount Sterling, had consumed about 50 acres. Several smaller fires in the Red Rock Canyon National Conservation Area, which had concerned officials on Wednesday, were contained and expected to be extinguished Thursday night.

Officials reported late Thursday that no structures had been lost and no significant injuries reported from any of the blazes.

But the Goodsprings fire was cause for concern throughout the day Thursday.

Firefighters from federal, state and local agencies, including Hotshot crews, were on hand to battle the blaze. Two single-prop planes circulated from the Jean airport to drop fire retardant. Crews walked the eastern boundaries of the fire, hacked debris and tried to extinguish spot fires that erupted sometimes into flames 12 feet high.

"It was quite a show. It looked like a volcano. It was ominous," said Felix Viscuglia, whose house had an open view of the fire's path through Goodsprings Valley.

But the winds guided the fire away from Goodsprings' 230 residents and about 70 homes.

The same gusts filled the Las Vegas Valley and Red Rock Canyon with a smoky haze. As bits of ash fell from the sky in parts of the valley, the county's Department of Air Quality Management advised people to curtail vigorous outdoor activity, especially children, the elderly and individuals with respiratory illnesses.

A cool northwestern wind pushed the fire up and around the ridges of Mount Potosi, where it threatened camps inhabited by about 40 members of a United Methodist Church and about 270 scouts and staff. A communication tower atop a ridge near Mount Potosi was in danger of melting, as layers of the mountain burst into flames, fire officials said.

Officials ordered the camps on Mount Potosi evacuated at 1 p.m.

Scout leaders had the children gather at an amphitheater, where they told them they needed to evacuate because the fire was about a mile away. They left their belongings, taking only water, and came down the mountain in vehicles.

Matt Klabacka, a leader with Troop 343 of Green Valley, said he briefly left the camp to get supplies and found when he returned that the Bureau of Land Management had closed the road leading to the camp. He and his 11-year-old son had been at the camp since Monday.

"They won't let me go up there," Klabacka said.

As camp staff began to shuttle the children, ages 11 to 16, down to state Route 160, a number of Scouts said they had seen smoke but no flames.

"I was fine," said 12-year-old Ricky Carpenter. "It was the other kids that were really freaking out."

Frank Hutchinson, director of support services for the Las Vegas Boy Scouts, said the 172 Scouts were never in imminent danger. "It wasn't anything impending, because there was still time to get everyone down safely."

As the fire closed in on the camps on Mount Potosi, firefighters attempted to protect the structures, said Kirsten Cannon, a BLM spokeswoman.

Officials said the fire could blow northeast toward Las Vegas. But there was also a chance the wind could blow northwest and threaten the 30 homes in Mountain Springs. As a result, officials urged the community's residents to leave.

"It's going to come across the highway either way," said Larry Benham, Mountain Springs' chief of the Humboldt-Toiyabe National Forest division.

The Red Cross opened a shelter for Mountain Spring's 175 residents at Canarelli Middle School, 7808 S. Torrey Pines Drive.

By Thursday morning, 121 fires statewide had burned more than 47,832 acres, compared with 9,753 acres at the same time in 2004, and 2,656 acres in 2003, according to Mike Dondero, fire management officer for the state Division of Forestry.

Heavy winter rainfall throughout Nevada has brought unusual growth of cheatgrass, which is quick to burn, according to forestry officials. In a normal year, an acre of ground in Southern Nevada has 200 pounds to 400 pounds of vegetation to burn. This year, there are 1.5 tons of vegetation that could potentially burn.

"The public has to be very cognizant this summer each and every time they venture into the wildlands," state Forester Pete Anderson said.

Dondero said some of the 250 firefighters battling the 735-acre Badger fire outside Carson City soon will be released to Southern Nevada. But lightning strikes are expected throughout the state this weekend, and it is important that all areas have some firefighters on duty, he said.

Review-Journal staff writer Andrew Strickler contributed to this report.