Nevadans pitch in to help

Bill James answered the call to help.

The retired Las Vegan drove to San Diego on Tuesday night to help deliver food to Californians displaced by the wildfires.

"It feels good to help," he said. "I just want to give a little back."

James, 64, spoke by telephone from Petco Park in San Diego, where he is volunteering with the Las Vegas chapter of the American Red Cross. He is one of about 10 volunteers from the group who traveled to Southern California.

Although he couldn't see smoke or flames from the baseball park that's home to the San Diego Padres, James said he saw huge fires in Temecula as he drove south on Interstate 15. Temecula is halfway between Los Angeles and San Diego.

Some Las Vegans helped the wildfire victims without leaving Southern Nevada.

Clear Channel Radio set up donation booths at valley Wal-Mart stores, where hundreds of people donated goods. Station Casinos collected pet supplies at Red Rock Resort to send to San Diego's Qualcomm Stadium, which has been turned into an evacuation center.

Authorities throughout Nevada sent or will send more firefighting resources to California.

Five National Guard vehicles and three support trailers carrying 31 Nevada airmen and soldiers traveled to Southern California on Wednesday morning to help, said Melissa Subbotin, spokeswoman for Gov. Jim Gibbons.

Helicopters from the Nevada National Guard were sent, including an OH-58 Kiowa that has thermal imaging cameras to help firefighters map out the fire line, she said.

Mike Dondero, fire management officer for the Nevada Division of Forestry, said the division probably will send another strike team to California today. The team will join the more than 175 Nevada-based firefighters already there.

A strike team is made up of five fire engines, 20 firefighters, a team leader and a trainee.

"We're trying to fill the orders (for firefighters)," Dondero said.

Hotels in Las Vegas, meanwhile, haven't seen a huge influx of evacuees from Southern California. However, representatives from several properties said they didn't track whether guests had traveled to Las Vegas to escape the fire.

Yvette Monet, spokeswoman for the MGM Mirage, said several of the company's properties, including the MGM Grand and New York New York, where already at or near capacity because of several conventions in town.

The SEMA convention for specialty auto parts was expected to bring 130,000 conventioneers to Las Vegas this week, she said.

Contact reporter David Kihara at dkihara @reviewjournal.com or (702) 383-4638.