Firefighters watch skies as they try to contain blazes

RENO -- Searing temperatures in the triple digits and a threat of renewed thunderstorms were becoming as much of a bane to hundreds of firefighters on Tuesday as the lightning-sparked fires they were battling across Northern Nevada.

The state's largest blaze, the Highway 93 Complex near Jackpot and the Idaho line, grew to 72,800 acres and continued to expand beyond its 114 square miles, although it was about 45 percent contained, Elko Interagency Dispatch Center Manager Bill Roach said.

Suppression efforts have been hampered by limited access and terrain that will not permit dozer line construction or direct attack by engines, he said.

Thirty cows either have been killed by the fire or have been put down because of injuries.

While crews gained some ground on the fire, they were watching the skies.

"The weather forecast for rest of the week does not look promising," Roach said. "If the predicted dry lightning and scattered thunderstorms arrive, fire conditions will be extreme once again."

The state's other major fire, the 58,000-acre Tungsten blaze three miles north of Imlay, continued to threaten outbuildings, although crews had cut a line around half of its 90 square miles.

The 22,650-acre Thomas fire was 75 percent contained. The blaze had burned into backyards of a residential area of Winnemucca but was stopped short of the houses. An electrical substation and a handful of outbuildings were destroyed.

Calmer winds aided crews, said fire spokesman Pete Jankowski, although temperatures peaked at 102 degrees on Tuesday.

"We've made a lot of progress. The weather's really cooperating," he said.

Since Friday afternoon, about two dozen lightning-caused wildfires had blackened some 172,000 acres, more than 270 square miles, of rangeland across Northern Nevada.

In western Nevada, an 18,000-acre fire 10 miles south of Silver Springs was 50 percent contained.