Lightning responsible for two wildfires east of Carson Valley

Two fires burning east of Carson Valley were caused by a lightning storm that moved along the eastern Douglas County line on Friday.

Firefighters have been making progress on both the 200-acre Boulder fire and the 88-acre Pine Nuts fire.

They've built a line around 60 percent of the Boulder fire, located in the Wellington Hills east of Topaz Ranch Estates. While the southern Douglas County community is on the other side of the Walker River from the fire, homes located on the eastern side of the hills in Lyon County are about a mile from perimeter. Saturday night, four hand crews worked to establish and reinforce an anchor point to secure the perimeter.

Firefighters' goal is to keep the fire on Humboldt-Toiyabe land.

Mop-up operations have begun and firefighters hop to have a line completely around the fire by 6 p.m. Monday, unless something changes.

That possibility looms in the thunder cells developing over the fire area, which bring lightning and erratic winds.

The smaller Pine Nuts fire located nine miles east of Johnson Lane on Mineral Peak in the Pine Nut Mountains is surrounded by a fire line and firefighters are mopping up the fire scene and cleaning up fuels around the perimeter.

Nearly 300 firefighters, including eight hand crews, 12 engines, five helicopters and seven air tankers were split between the two fires.

Fire restrictions for all public lands in Western Nevada and eastern California started on Friday.