Man injured rescuing dog from Northern Nevada hot spring

GERLACH — A man was hospitalized after jumping into a hot spring on the northern Nevada desert to rescue a dog.

Gerlach Volunteer Fire Chief Willard Gooch said the man was scalded late Friday afternoon by water in the Double Hot Springs on the Black Rock Desert, about 120 miles north of Reno.

He told the Reno Gazette-Journal the man was flown by medical helicopter to a Reno hospital, where his condition was not immediately released.

Water in the hot springs can reach about 180 degrees, and a fence was installed around them after similar accidents in the past.

U.S. Bureau of Land Management spokesman Chris Rose said Sunday he did not have any immediate details of the latest accident.

In 2000, a 27-year-old Reno woman and a friend were walking near the Double Hot Springs when their dogs leaped into one of the pools.

They tried to rescue the animals and ended up getting severely burned themselves.

The woman died from her burns and her friend suffered second- and third-degree burns over 80 percent of his body.

Both dogs had to be euthanized.

The status of the dog in the latest accident was not immediately known.

Gooch told the Gazette-Journal he’s aware of at least six cases in recent years of people who jumped into the hot springs on the Black Rock Desert to try to save an animal.