The July 29, 2021, R-C Morning Report

Genoa, Nev. — Douglas County Public Library Minden Branch Supervisor Julia Brown was named the interim library director on Tuesday, a position she’ll hold while the board of trustees works on finding a new director.

It’s sort of a relief to finally lead the morning report with something that’s not on fire, but that doesn’t mean there still isn’t a fire burning above the Valley. The Tamarack Fire grew 100 acres to 68,497 acres and is 59 percent contained.

After a Herculean effort, power company workers have the electricity on to all but 14 homes and businesses in the Highway 395 corridor. They hope to have those re-energized this morning, but I wager the last are also the most difficult.

Firefighters are starting to demobilize from the Tamarack Fire, dropping from 1,500 at the peak to around 1,000 as of last night. That will continue as they go out to fight other fires, taking with them our sincere thanks for their efforts.

There’s not a syllable about the governor’s new mask mandate in today’s R-C, mainly because I’m still trying to get my head around what it means for Douglas County on the ground. I doubt I’m the only one.

Air quality is moderate this morning and may improve with the day, which during fire season is pretty much as good as it’s going to get.

Wednesday’s thunderstorm alert turned out to be a false alarm, but we might see some repeat of Monday’s deluge today through Saturday. Thunderstorms could bring some flash flooding throughout the county.

Today’s forecast calls for scattered showers and thunderstorms after 11 a.m. with a high of 92 degrees. The southwest wind will pick up to 10-15 mph this afternoon but expect gustier winds near thunderstorms.

Kurt Hildebrand is editor of The Record-Courier. Reach him at khildebrand@recordcourier.com