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Storm ignited fires grow

Federal firefighters on Thursday continued to battle lightning-sparked wildfires just outside of Las Vegas, authorities said.

The fires, on land managed by the U.S. Forest Service and Bureau of Land Management, brought to Southern Nevada the lightning-ignited wildfires that have been burning in at least seven Western states.

The storms that produced the lightning had moved over central Arizona by late Wednesday, the National Weather Service in Las Vegas said.

The fires have grown, albeit slowly, in the past 24 hours.

The largest blaze at 80 acres, the Potosi Fire in the Red Rock Canyon National Conservation Area, continued to be suppressed by BLM firefighters, a helicopter and two airplanes Thursday.

The fire, on the south side of state Route 160, southwest of Las Vegas, was about two miles from the Boy Scout camp at Kimball Scout Reservation on Mount Potosi.

The Trout Fire on the west side of the Spring Mountain range grew to six acres and the Harris Springs Fire near Mount Charleston grew to nine acres. Both were five acres in size on Wednesday. The Forest Service is battling both fires, which are in remote areas.

Officials expected both the Trout Fire and the Harris Springs Fire to be fully contained by late Thursday.

The 12-acre Box Fire in the Whitney Pass area near the Arizona border was fought by BLM firefighters and was in the mop-up phase late Thursday.

No one was injured and no homes or businesses were threatened because of the fires.

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