Fire crews burned forest undergrowth near homes in the mountains northwest of Las Vegas to protect them from one of two large Nevada wildfires while local casino owners offered rooms to evacuees.
The wildfire burning northwest of Las Vegas was within a quarter-mile of homes Tuesday and had charred an area nearly the size of Manhattan, authorities said. Billowing smoke were visible from downtown and fine ash fell nearby.
In northern Nevada, more than 1,060 firefighters worked to stem the spread of a bigger but more remote wildfire that grew Monday to 40 square miles in the Pine Nut Mountains southwest of Reno.
Lyon County sheriff’s deputies went door-to-door to ask people to evacuate Pipeline Canyon.
No homes have been lost in either fire, but fire officials said containment may not come on either fire until next week.
In southern Nevada, no homes have been damaged and none of 800 firefighters has been injured battling the 31-square-mile Carpenter 1 fire on Mount Charleston, U.S. Forest Service spokesman Jay Nichols said. Officials said the fire was about 15 percent contained.
In northern Nevada, the 25,700-acre Bison Fire straddled the Douglas and Lyon county lines near Gardnerville and Carson City. It doubled in size Monday, but stabilized Tuesday after charring an area about two-thirds the size of Washington, D.C. Containment was reported at 25 percent.
One of 720 firefighters suffered a knee injury as crews battled gusty winds, low humidity and temperatures in the 90s, fire spokeswoman Lisa Ross said.
Douglas County commissioners declared a state of emergency to enable the county to seek more state and federal assistance.
Ross put the cost of battling the fire since it was sparked by lightning July 4 at about $3.5 million.
The Federal Emergency Management Agency has promised to reimburse Nevada for 75 percent of the cost of fire suppression on the nearly 20,000-acre Carpenter 1 fire near Las Vegas.
Federal Bureau of Land Management spokeswoman Hillerie Patton said Tuesday that the cost was approaching $5 million.
Officials say more than 500 residents have been unable to return to homes in Trout, Kyle, Lee, Harris Springs and Lovell canyons since the weekend. Another 98 teenagers remain evacuated from a Clark County youth correctional camp.
Several local casino companies teamed with the American Red Cross of Southern Nevada to provide hotel rooms to evacuees, and the Nevada Restaurant Association worked with the Red Cross to provide meals for firefighters working to protect about 400 mountain homes.
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