Officials with the Washoe County Sheriff’s Office and Truckee Meadows Fire Protection District are working together to uncover the cause of the Davis Fire. The fire started around 2:30 p.m. on Saturday, Sept. 7 near the Davis Creek Regional Park in Washoe Valley.
They’re asking anyone in the community with credible information or who was in the vicinity of Davis Creek Park’s day-use area to call 775-326-6079 or email [email protected].
Sheriff Darin Balaam said the fire investigation is ongoing and interviews are already underway to find out what may have started the fire, and if it was a person, who that might be.
“If you think you saw anything out there, please reach out to Truckee Meadows Fire or Washoe County Sheriff’s Office. Even if you think it doesn’t matter, that may be the one piece of evidence that helps solve this,” he said.
As of Wednesday, Sept. 11, the fire had burned more than 5,600 acres with only 31% containment and forced the evacuation of thousands of residents from their homes.
Fire restrictions have been in place in Washoe County since July 2, banning outdoor recreational and cooking fires, charcoal barbecues, fire pits and campfires. Officials cited “unreasonable heat and dryness of the wildland fuels in our region” as a key factor in the heightened restrictions.
A red flag warning—which signals warm temperatures, low humidity and high winds that pose increased fire danger—was in effect on Saturday. Winds near the park averaged 10 miles per hour, with gusts up to 20 miles per hour throughout the afternoon. Weekend winds were cited as a key factor in the fire’s growth.
Hoping for ‘a big win’
Fire officials, in a Wednesday afternoon media briefing, said the winds were challenging throughout the day but firefighters were engaged to keep the fire within the existing footprint.
According to Jason Clawson, a deputy incident commander with the Southwest Region Incident Management Team, gusty winds throughout the day grounded firefighting aircraft. He said wind gusts on the ridges and areas within the fire were 30-40 miles per hour, but some areas around the perimeter of the fire are sheltered, which helped to keep the fire from growing.
“All of our containment lines are holding at this time. We do not have hand line around all of the perimeter but we will have it by end of shift today,” he said. “That is very good news today.”
Clawson said they’re hoping to add more containment to the fire by the end of the day as well, and have been working on mop up in several areas of the fire.
“The majority of the smoke that we’re seeing this afternoon…is coming from an unburned pocket in that area just north of the 431 that is cleaning itself up into some fire retardant that was left from previous days that dried up,” he said. “At this time it is not a threat, but that is the smoke we’re seeing predominately this afternoon.
“Folks on the ground are feeling pretty confident. But it’s getting close to 1700 and we’ve still got open flame so that definitely is a concern of ours,” Clawson added.
Stewart Turner, a fire behavior analyst with the IMT, said the winds have been gusting as forecasted, but the work done on the fire to date has kept it from making a run north.
“We still have some fire weather to get through,” he said. “Now you may have seen my predictions for today—the seven-mile model runs we did. And that did not come true so far. Every hour when that fire does not escape, we start knocking off mileage on that run. So it’s getting shorter and shorter, and eventually, it may get to the point that it just does not materialize at all. And that’s going to be a big win for us.”
Turner credited the hard work of the firefighters on the ground and aerial operations for the work they did on the fire Monday to keep it in check.
Turner said favorable wind conditions are forecasted for the area starting at around 1 a.m. Thursday morning and continuing through the day. “That’s flyable weather,” he said, referring to getting aviation resources back to fire suppression efforts.
Hotspots within the fire perimeter, as detected by the VIIRS infrared satellite imaging, decreased in size throughout the day despite winds kicking up flames in several areas.
Federal aid to cover the costs of the fire has already been requested as part of Gov. Joe Lombardo’s declaration of emergency. FEMA funding will cover up to 75% of the costs of fighting the fire. State Forester Kacey KC said the state will be seeking additional grant funding in the future to cover the cost of stabilization and environmental rehabilitation once the emergency situation is ended.
Shelter moved to Neil Road
A shelter for those evacuated from the fire areas has been moved from the Ninth Street Senior Center to the Neil Road Recreation Center. American Red Cross volunteers are operating that site and offering food, water and shelter to those impacted by the fire.
For additional resources and information sources for the fire, visit our resources page.
