A Skycrane dumps water on a fire burning near Kingsbury Grade on Saturday.
UPDATE: A half-dozen fires set by lightning in the Carson Range are either out or are almost out.
East Fork Fire Protection District reports that all six fires that were reported are at less than an acre in size, Douglas County Sheriff’s spokesman Pat Brooks said on Sunday.
“The fires have been extinguished or have crews on scene mopping up the fires,” he said. “The crews have orders for full extinguishment.”
He said that emergency officials are concerned that Saturday’s multiple lightning strike may still have set some embers that have not yet burst into flame.
The Washington Fire smouldered for 10 days before it was spotted on June 19.
“Another concern for today is for a repeat of weather, with the potential for more rain and flash flooding,” he said. “We are asking the public to call 911 for reports of any new fire starts or flooding.”
Brooks warned residents to be ready for power outages and have a general situational awareness with regards to lighting, heavy rain and other weather related issues.
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A severe thunderstorm left a structure fire, a half-dozen wild fires and thousands of residents without power it passed over Carson Valley on Saturday.
At one point nearly 7,300 Douglas County NV Energy customers were without power. The outage affected the traffic signals at Highway 395 and 88 and Highway 88 and Waterloo Lane. In Carson City, more than 3,400 customers were without power at one point.
The powerful cell prompted the U.S. Weather Service to issued a severe thunderstorm warning for Douglas and Alpine counties at 5:23 p.m. The storm struck quickly with lightning strikes hitting several places around Carson Valley.
Firefighters are working five fires in the mountains around Carson Valley, though no structures are threatened, Sheriff’s Spokesman Pat Brooks said.
All fires are going to be monitored through the night and will be addressed during the daylight hours, he said.
The fires being monitored include:
■ The Bear Fire burning in the Monument Creek area is a half-acre. A Folsom hand crew is working a line around it. The fire has a low rate of spread, according to the Sierra Front Interagency Dispatch. The fire burning above Autumn Hills was started by lightning at 6:37 p.m. Saturday.
■ The Fay Canyon Fire is a 50-square-foot fire burning in Fay Canyon that has been contained and controlled. That fire started at 6:31 p.m.
■ The Stutler fire is a half-acre fire burning above Jobs Peak Ranch that was estimated to be contained at midnight Saturday.
■ The Jacks Fire was a quarter-acre fire burning near John Ascuaga’s Ranch that has been contained. It started at 7:23 p.m.
■ The Summit Fire is a 30-square-foot fire on Sponner Summit. Firefighters have a line around it.
Brooks asked residents not to congregate along Foothill Road, so that firefighters can do their work.
“Causes of these fires are suspected to be from the lighting strikes from the storm that pushed through the valley earlier,” he said. “As a reminder, similar weather patterns are anticipated for the next few days.”
A fire weather watch is in place for Western Nevada for thunderstorms through 9 p.m.
At midnight Saturday, more than 6,700 NV Energy Northern Nevada customers were without power, with nearly 3,500 of those in Douglas County.
Nearly 80 different outages are affecting about 1,500 customers in Minden and Johnson Lane, according to NV Energy. The company says 1,300 customers in Indian Hills and Jacks Valley are affected by 26 different outages. About 195 Gardnerville customers were also affected by the outage.
Local, state and federal agencies responded to the fires, including the East Fork Fire District, Douglas County Sheriff’s Office, Douglas County Sheriff’s Posse, Douglas County Search and Rescue, Nevada Highway Patrol, Douglas G.I.S. and Douglas 911, the Nevada Division of Forestry and the U.S. Forest Service.
A thunderstorm in Genoa dropped a third of an inch of rain over 40 minutes on Saturday starting around 5:30 p.m., which occurred about the same time as the power outage there.
A gauge in the Gardnerville Ranchos recorded .12 inches. According to the National Weather Service radar, portions of the Valley received more than a half inch of rain. A weather watcher clocked a wind gust of 78 mph in Sheridan Acres at 6:30 p.m. Saturday.
