Kingsbury fire brings home dry conditions

Kingsbury Grade residents were advised to leave their homes on Thursday afternoon after a fire broke out.

The fire appeared to have been started by a downed power line and was a half-acre in size.

Dry conditions are contributing to fires all over western Nevada, including a large blaze in Lyon County.

A dozen East Fork Fire District firefighters and an administrator responded to the Industrial fire in Mound House on Wednesday.

Firefighters from stations in Gardnerville, Jacks Valley, Sheridan Acres and Minden were called out to support the battle against the 429-acre blaze located north of Highway 50 near the highway to Virginia City.

East Fork Fire & Paramedics Chief Tod Carlini said all the firefighters were safe back home in Carson Valley on Thursday morning.

He said Deputy Fire Chief Dave Drew also responded to the fire.

Carlini visited the fire scene on Wednesday night and said the topic of discussion among senior firefighters was how early fire season had arrived.

"I've seen it worse, but never this early," he said. "We had two red flags last week. Temperatures are in the 90s and humidity is around 0 percent. We were all talking about it. We always say it is going to be bad, but all the buzz is about how early fires are starting and how we never really had an end to last year's fire season."

This is the second week a statewide mutual assistance agreement has been in place, Carlini said.

As of 10 a.m. Thursday, firefighters expected to have a line around the blaze by 6 p.m.

A spark from a piece of heavy equipment sparked the fire. A series of thunderstorms set 11 fires north of Reno. More thunderstorms are expected this weekend, according to the National Weather Service.