Spring Mountains wildfire grows to 420 acres, is 20 percent contained

A wildfire in the Spring Mountains, southwest of Las Vegas, has grown to about 420 acres and on Saturday night was 20 percent contained, according to the U.S. Forest Service.

The blaze, which was sparked by lighting on Thursday evening, is being fueled by Juniper plants and Pinyon pine, officials said. “Extremely hot” weather, low humidity, thunderstorms, and “gusty erratic winds” are affecting the efforts, according to a government monitoring site.

Officials asked of the public to not drive on any Forest Service and Bureau of Land Management roads south of state Route 160. “For both the safety of the public and firefighters.”

Unmanned drones flying near or over wildfires can hamper operations and “endanger life and property,” officials said, reminding the public that it’s illegal to fly them during firefighting operations.

Additional resources arrived Saturday. Eight smokejumpers, four engines, five hand crews, two helicopters and two air tankers were fighting the fire, totaling to about 170 personnel, officials said.

Officials on Friday said no evacuation orders were in effect, but a nearby Boy Scouts reservation was voluntarily evacuated, officials said. The fire was one of two sparked on Thursday.