Nevada fire fully contained at nearly 2,000 acres

Nevada fire fully contained at nearly 2,000 acres

RENO, Nev. (AP) — The southwest Reno fire that forced thousands to flee and destroyed 32 homes is fully contained at nearly 2,000 acres, fire officials said late Sunday.

Close to 10,000 people were forced to evacuate early Friday by the unusual, out-of-season blaze that was spread by gale force winds and ripped through the Sierra foothills.

Sierra Fire Protection District Mike Brown said the blaze is 100 percent contained at 1,935 acres, or about three square miles, after crews worked Sunday on lingering hot spots.

They also repaired areas where vegetation was burned and hillsides damaged by bulldozers in an effort to prevent mudslides, he said.

Although no official cause has been determined, authorities suspect arcing power lines.

“The fire was much like a locomotive,” Reno Fire Chief Mike Hernandez said. “It roared down the mountains and then ran down along the foothills.”

Hernandez noted that many families had to flee in the middle of the night with limited possessions, “and they are coming back to devastation, to nothing.”