Quick response, fortuitous conditions helped in containment of Sleeping Elephant fire

Erratic fire behavior and shifting winds are to blame for the spread of the lightning-caused Sleeping Elephant fire Friday.

The fire which sparked northeast of Topaz Lake at the top of Wild Oat Mountain, exploded from a few acres on the hillside to more than 800 acres within several hours.

"About an hour into the event, air attack flying overhead reported the fire would not stay on the hill," East Fork District Chief Tod Carlini said. "It was a combination of good fortune, winds and obviously good firefighting tactics that stopped the advance of the fire where it did. Resources were stretched pretty thin with six different fires burning in Washoe County alone."

The fire, reported to Minden dispatch at 1:50 p.m., had tremendous growth potential on the inaccessible hillside covered with tinder dry grasses, sagebrush and piñons.

Hand crews, a water drop from a Black Hawk helicopter, a slurry drop from an air tanker, along with a sudden wind shift brought the advancing 12-foot flames within 30 feet of the complex containing the Arden Square strip mall and landmark red A-frame building as well as Topaz Joe's, the Nevada Trading Company and the East Fork Fire Station 4 where the incident command center had staged.

"We had to move the incident command center three times," Carlini said. "We felt we were in a pretty secure area."

At the height of the fire, more than 150 firefighters responded from East Fork Fire Protection District, Mason Valley Fire Department, the U.S. Forest Service and the Bureau of Land Management.

"We had fantastic support from the Douglas County Sheriff's Office," Carlini said. "Residents were responding to the voluntary evacuation. It is a state law in Nevada that no one has to leave their home, evacuations are strictly voluntary unless the Governor declares a state of emergency."

"We were just fortunate. The system really came through for us this time with the county commissioners coming together and making an emergency declaration. That allowed us to get the immediate resources we needed." Carlini said.

At one point over 200 ground personnel, four dozen firefighting apparatus including three helicopters and two air tankers, four bulldozers and three Cats were working on the fire.

Full containment was reached by 6 p.m. Saturday at approximately 800 acres with an estimated cost of $52,000.

No injuries were reported and no structures were lost.

Information about living with wildfires in Douglas County is available online. Access the Nevada Community Wildfire Risk/Hazard Assessment Project at www.rci-nv.com/reports/douglas.