By Martin Griffith
The Associated Press
RENO, Nev. — Hot, windy weather hampered fire crews Monday as they battled wildfires caused by lightning that had charred thousands of acres across northern Nevada, forcing interstate closures and threatening a small ranching community.
Firefighters also were battling blazes that had led to evacuations in New Mexico, Arizona and Colorado.
Two Nevada brush fires that temporarily shut down portions of Interstate 80 on Sunday night near Elko, 290 miles east of Reno, continued to burn out of control Monday, said Bureau of Land Management spokesman Mike Brown.
A 5,000-acre fire threatened the remote ranching community of Elburz, located east of Elko. A 10,000-acre blaze near the mining town of Carlin, west of Elko, had threatened a state fire academy Sunday night.
“It’s just a giant tinderbox,” Brown said, adding that dry lightning storms were forecast again Monday.
Elsewhere, a 2,300-acre wildfire in northern New Mexico, west of Gallina, forced residents of three small communities to flee their homes. On Sunday, evacuees accompanied by law enforcement escorts were allowed to return home briefly to check on or retrieve “the four Ps _ pets, papers, pills, pictures,” said Lawrence Lujan, a fire information officer.
Thunderstorms helped fire crews in southern New Mexico make progress on a nearly 51,000-acre fire burning in the Gila National Forest. Investigators blamed that blaze on a campfire and offered a $5,000 reward for information.
Arizona fire officials said crews made progress over the weekend trying to control the 4,200-acre wildfire just north of the scenic community of Sedona.
People from about 75 homes and four resorts on the fire’s northern flank were allowed to return Saturday, but hundreds of other residents remained evacuated. Crews expected to contain the fire by Wednesday evening, but it wasn’t known when the remaining evacuees will be allowed to return home.
In southern Colorado, all evacuation orders were lifted Sunday for homes near an almost 14,000-acre wildfire as firefighters got help from cooler, more humid weather.
Residents of about 300 homes had been asked to evacuate after the fire started June 18.
As of Monday, wildfires around the United States had blackened 3.3 million acres this year, compared to 1.1 million acres at this same time in 2005, the National Interagency Fire Center reported. The agency, based in Boise, Idaho, said fires were active in Alaska, Arizona, California, Colorado, Florida, Nevada, New Mexico, Oklahoma, Texas, Utah and Wyoming.
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On the Net:
National Interagency Fire Center: http://www.nifc.gov