Firefighters stop spread of 1,500-acre Duck Hill blaze

CARSON CITY - Firefighters have stopped the spread of a blaze that had quickly scorched about 1,500 acres of sagebrush and cheatgrass just north of Nevada's capital city.

Before slowing late Thursday, the wind-driven "Sutro" fire had forced evacuations from several homes and a state campground and damaged an unmanned electronic communication facility on top of Duck Hill, overlooking Carson City.

"But once the sun went down, temperatures dropped and we got a little drizzle, the fire laid down somewhat," said Steve Hedeman of the Bureau of Land Management. "Now we're just concentrating on getting a line around it."

At one point, the fire came within three-quarters of a mile of homes on the Carson City side of the hill

But air tankers and helicopters repeatedly dumped slurry and big buckets of water, helping ground crews to save the homes.

The blaze then spread rapidly to the north, over the top of the hill, through Deadman's Creek Canyon and into the south end of Washoe Valley, where about 15 campers had to flee from Washoe Lake State Park. Eastlake Road was closed from U.S. 395 to Washoe City.

Trees at the park were burned, but the fire didn't reach a park ranger's house or a neighboring home, one of just a few in the immediate area.

Flames were clearly visible from downtown Carson, and from homes across Washoe Valley. Heavy smoke, adding to haze created by other fires in the area, could be seen in Reno 30 miles to the north.

The Sutro fire broke out as weary firefighters were wrapping up work on the Red Rock fire that burned about 6,500 acres of sagebrush and juniper just north of Reno.

The fires were among 27 major blazes that had consumed 121,000 acres of grass, brush and timber across the West. Firefighters faced triple-digit temperatures and rugged terrain in many cases, and lightning strikes threatened to spark new fires.

Besides Nevada, fires were burning in California, Oregon, Montana, Washington and Idaho.

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