Alpine fire closes trails, road

All trails in the area south of the Wolf Creek Trailhead have been ordered closed as firefighters battle a 300-acre forest fire in the Carson Iceberg Wilderness.

The U.S. Forest Service is encouraging people not to travel Forest Service Road 032, due to heavy traffic from fire personnel responding to the blaze, according to public information officer Danyelle Storms.

Trails closed include the Murray Canyon cutoff trail and the Elder Creek Trail, including the Wolf Creek Drainage and Bull Canyon areas from the wilderness boundary on the est to the divide between Wolf Creek and the East Carson River on the east.

Six hand crews and five helicopters making up nearly 170 firefighters are battling the plaze located six miles south of Wolf Creek.

The crews have a line a tenth around the fire that is burning mostly lodgepole pine in the Humboldt-Toiyabe Forest.

The fire was set by a lightning strike, possibly during the July 25 thunderstorm and has been smoldering. A crew responded to a report of smoke in the vicinity on Tuesday night.

Smoke from the fire is drifting into Carson Valley.