Nevada Fires Spark State Of Emergency

Nevada Gov. Kenny Guinn declared a state of emergency as state and federal crews put practically every available piece of equipment on the lines to combat dozens of lightning-sparked fires that have burned 125 square miles of Nevada.

Meanwhile, in a fitting welcome, rain dampened a smoldering wildfire Tuesday around scenic Oak Creek Canyon just before hundreds of people returned to homes they were forced to flee more than a week earlier.

Thunderstorms circling around New Mexico for the past two days also have helped firefighters in their battle against several blazes that have charred more than 82,000 acres there in recent weeks.

Crews were doing mop-up work Wednesday on the Bear Paw Fire a mile west of Gallina in northern New Mexico. The 3,200-acre fire was 80 percent contained.

In all, 42 large fires are burning in nine states, claiming more than 3.5 million acres so far this year, reports CBS News correspondent Sandra Hughes. That's twice last year's acreage and almost ten times as much as the ten-year average. Blame it on overly wet winters and now severe drought.

"We had a very wet 2005. That created a lot of grass and brush and those fuels have carried over to this year," said Rick Ochoa of the National Interagency Fire Center.

Still, officials aren't predicting a record breaking fire season yet, says Hughes.

More than 1,000 firefighters on Wednesday were battling dozens of fires in Nevada, from a 57,000-acre blaze burning out of control largely in uninhabited rangeland in northeast Nevada to a complex of a dozen smaller fires around Reno and Carson City that forced evacuations at the town of Mound House along the historic Pony Express Trail.

"We're stretched about as thin as possible," said Jeff Arnberger, assistant fire management officer for the Bureau of Land Management in Elko, Nev., where the largest fires were burning.

"Thankfully our neighbors from around Nevada and across the country are giving us a hand," he said.

The series of fires that threatened 300 homes and businesses at Mound House late Monday night grew to 6,000 acres overnight and looped around Carson City on the eastern front of the Sierra, sending a mile-long snake of fire down a hillside near McClellan Peak.

"You could actually see the trees that are up there just getting engulfed in flames. It looked like a humungous torch," a Mound House resident told CBS affiliate KTVN.

As many as a 200 homes remained threatened there late Tuesday afternoon as fire crews endured a third consecutive day of temperatures in the 90s, low humidity, strong erratic winds and dry lightning.

Dozens of cars rolled through a checkpoint on the sole road leading into Arizona's Oak Creek Canyon just after the evacuation order was lifted at 5 p.m. Tuesday. The residents were returning to a canyon that had been threatened for days but where fire crews were able to keep flames from reaching even a single structure.

"I just want to go home," said resident Cameron Gray. "It was the longest day at work today, just thinking about it. It's so nice just to know finally I can go back home. The last 10 days have been a roller coaster ride."

Gray, whose jeep was decorated with a sign that read "Thank you all for saving our canyon," said he just planned to sit by Oak Creek and relax. But he said he was afraid of his refrigerator because the power to canyon homes had been turned off during the evacuations.

"I hope there's no science experiments going on in there," he said.

The Brins fire started as a transient's campfire on June 18 and spread rapidly in steep terrain above the canyon. About 430 homes and about 30 businesses in the canyon were quickly evacuated that day as fire teams moved in.

By late Tuesday, the fire was at about 4,320 acres but it was 90 percent contained, and full containment was expected Wednesday. People from about 75 homes and four resorts in the northern part of the canyon were allowed to return home Saturday.

Federal fire managers were sending a Type I team — the army of firefighters assigned to national priority fires — to Nevada to take control of that attack on what they dubbed the "Sierra-Tahoe complex."

"Resources are scarce because of all the other fires in the Western United States right now. But this will make it the highest priority," said Mike Dondero, fire management officer for the Nevada Division of Forestry. "We have about a dozen fires in the Reno-Carson City area."

The 125 square miles of land that has burned since lightning bolts started sparking fires over the weekend amounts to about 80,000 acres.

No structures have burned nor injuries reported so far. But there have been a number of close calls, including 2,800 acres worth of fires that threatened homes in Palomino Valley and Lemmon Valley on the outskirts of north Reno Monday night.

"Everywhere I looked there was just fire after fire, everywhere you turned your head," said Nate Bourne, who helped his wife load their dogs and valuables into a vehicle in preparation to evacuate Lemmon Valley late Tuesday.

"You think that everything you cherish in the world is in that house. It's a scary, scary thought," he told the Reno Gazette-Journal.