Small wildland fires smolder northwest of Las Vegas

By Mary Manning

Wednesday, Aug. 13, 2008 | 8:04 a.m.

Two small wildland fires, both caused by lightning, have been allowed to burn northwest of Las Vegas after they started Aug. 6, said Ed Monnig, supervisor for the Humboldt-Toiyabe National Forest.

With one fire, a lightning bolt ignited a single tree 30 miles northwest of Las Vegas and three miles above Cold Creek in rugged terrain. Known as the Bonanza fire, that small blaze was declared out Friday, said Lisa Ross, a spokeswoman for the national forest service.

The second fire, called the Whiskey fire, also started after lightning struck a single tree -- and it is also 30 miles northwest of Las Vegas -- burning in rugged wilderness three miles southwest of Cold Creek. This fire covers about a tenth of an acre and is within the Mount Charleston wilderness and has been allowed to burn.

The Whiskey fire continues to smolder and firefighters continue to monitor it, Ross said. When a fire burns in a wilderness area, it is known as a wildland fire use, meaning that nature caused it and no people or buildings are threatened.

"Wildland fire use is a management tool for resource preservation," Ross said.

A small wildland fire like Whiskey allows flames to create a mosaic in a forest containing both old and new trees. Such fires burn slowly and create buffer zones for future wildfires in a forest.