Human-Caused Reno Fire Forces 90,000 to Flee
Human-Caused Reno Fire Forces 90,000 to Flee
The News
The Hawk Fire tearing into northwest Reno, Nevada, was human-caused and still uncontained on Sunday, authorities said, as they urged roughly 90,000 people to get out.
At least six people were injured — three civilians and three first responders — and several structures were destroyed, officials said.
The fire, which began Saturday, had grown to 20 square miles as it spread across the Peavine Peak area of the Humboldt-Toiyabe National Forest, where foothills are ringed by homes and businesses near the California state line, the Associated Press reported.
Officials said the cause is under investigation and gave no further detail on how the fire started.
Timeline
The Hawk Fire starts and grows fast. Fifteen new fires popped up across Nevada that day, according to the AP.
The fire moves so quickly it jumps over fire trucks, making it hard for crews to reach hotspots while residents are trying to leave, Washoe County Sheriff Darin Balaam said. Nevada Gov. Joe Lombardo declares a state of emergency in Washoe County.
The blaze has covered at least 10,522 acres in the area north of Lake Tahoe on the California-Nevada border, the Los Angeles Times reported. Evacuation centers open in Reno, including the Reno-Sparks Convention Center. The Truckee Meadows Fire Protection District reports about 400 firefighters working the fire from local, state and federal agencies, including three helicopters flown Saturday night.
Reno-Stead Airport, just north of the fire, is closed. Reno-Tahoe International Airport remains open.
The "GO NOW" zone expands to the edge of the University of Nevada. Some 42,000 residents are under evacuation orders and another 45,000 are in the adjacent warning zone. Nearly 10,000 customers are without power in Washoe County, down from 60,000 on Saturday. Portions of U.S. Route 395 are closed. Two hospitals evacuate patients.
Reactions
Balaam described a chaotic night as shifting winds threw the flames in different directions. "It was extremely confusing," he said. His message to residents Sunday was blunt: "Please get out if you can right now."
Lombardo said the fire "is spreading quickly and threatening homes and structures." He mobilized the Nevada National Guard to support aerial firefighting with two helicopter crews and 60 troops to help police guard evacuated neighborhoods. The AP reported 800 fire personnel responding.
Reno Mayor Hilary Schieve urged residents to comply with evacuation orders, saying "structures have already been burned in this fire and your life is worth more than a building."
Cari Kieffer said a video posted on social media showed her house burned to the ground, with only a scorched basketball hoop standing. "I woke up this morning and just started crying — all my kids, they lost everything," she said. "We lost all our stuff. Everything we own is gone."
Kieffer said she and her husband raced to save their dogs and what they could carry — clothes, a Bible, wedding photos, her mother's ashes — and forgot the family's birth certificates as firefighters yelled at them to leave.
David Barb came back from a hunting trip to find his taxidermy shop leveled, though his nearby house appeared to have been spared after landscaping workers cut a fire break. "I'm kind of devastated, but thank God everyone's safe," he said.
What's Next
Authorities told evacuees to be prepared to stay away for several days, warning that shifting and strengthening winds were expected to make the fire even more unpredictable.
The sheriff's office said it was watching closely to decide whether to evacuate the county jail. The University of Nevada, where many of the 20,000 undergraduates moved into housing this weekend, sat just outside the evacuation zone Sunday.
The cause investigation remains open. Officials have released no containment figure.
More
Reno, with more than 280,000 residents, is the largest city in Nevada outside metro Las Vegas. Washoe County emergency officials opened the Reno-Sparks Convention Center to evacuees but said pets could not come inside; small and large animals were directed to two other locations. Reno casinos offered discounted hotel rooms to evacuees.
The Hawk Fire lands in an already punishing season. The AP reported that months of dry weather and a record lack of snow across the American West last winter created prime fire conditions, and that wildfires in eastern Washington state forced 60,000 people from the Spokane area earlier this month. Near Reno, the Bug Fire, which began Aug. 10, had burned 93,733 acres and was 94% contained Sunday morning, and the Stallion Fire, which began Aug. 11, had burned 40,691 acres and was 98% contained, according to Watch Duty data cited by the Los Angeles Times.
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