RENO, Nev. (AP) - Firefighters got the upper hand Friday on each of the wildfires burning in northern Nevada but were concerned that erratic winds forecast for the weekend might whip up the remaining flames.
Voluntary evacuation orders were lifted for about 500 people across 200 homes and horse ranches in Palomino Valley. One sprawling property was charred.
Officials said the fire did not grow beyond the roughly 5 square miles (12 square kilometers) it had already burned on Thursday.
Firefighters made significant progress drawing containment perimeters around that rural fire and two others that erupted earlier this week east of Reno.
A federal specialty team arrived Thursday to work on suppression and to be on hand as the fires continued to smolder.
“These three fires, they’re looking pretty good right now,” team spokeswoman Erin Holland said. “Things can always change based on the weather conditions, but we wanted to have those resources in place because of the fuels out there and the erratic winds we expect this weekend.”
Holland said Reno and Sparks-area residents can expect to see smoke as the fires burn up islands of fuel within the perimeters.
Dry lightning was a concern to fire officials across the state heading into the weekend.
In southern Nevada, more than 350 acres had burned Friday on the western side of Mount Potosi about 30 miles southwest of Las Vegas.
Brian Porter of the Boy Scouts’ Las Vegas Area Council told The Las Vegas Review-Journal that the wildfire appeared to be burning away from their nearby Kimball Scout Reservation. Nonetheless, they took the precaution to cancel a three-day camp that was scheduled to begin Sunday.
Please read our comment policy before commenting.