Reno-area wildfire’s advance has stopped, but work remains before evacuees can return, official says

By Maria Aguilar Prieto, Hanna Park, Martin Goillandeau, Chris Boyette, CNN

Reno, Nevada (CNN) — Firefighters have the stopped forward progress of a wildfire threatening neighborhoods around Reno, and are working to extinguish hot spots on the fire’s perimeter in hopes of letting evacuated residents return to their homes “as soon as possible,” a fire official said Tuesday.

The Hawk Fire, which has burned some 15,000 acres just northwest of Reno and destroyed more than 40 homes since it began Saturday, has been 85% contained as of Tuesday evening. But firefighters anticipate that containment “to go up as we continue to be successful along the fire edge,” Matt Armantrout, an operations official with the fire management team fighting the blaze, said Tuesday in a video posted to Facebook.

As of Tuesday afternoon, Washoe County officials said approximately 5,000 people remain in the red “evacuate now” status, but the exact number of residents in the yellow “get set to evacuate” condition is unknown.

Around 87,000 people in parts of Reno and Nevada’s Washoe County – just under a fifth of the county’s population of 500,000 – had been urged over the weekend to evacuate, and at least two medical centers evacuated patients, as high winds pushed the wildfire to the city’s edge.

The fire at one point Sunday was advancing down a hillside toward residential neighborhoods near the city, one of the latest endangered communities in a destructive fire season that has scorched thousands of acres and forced the evacuations of entire towns across the Southwest.

Officials said 47 homes and one commercial structure were destroyed and eight additional structures suffered serious damage as of Tuesday afternoon.

The fire is situated just miles from the Nevada-California state line, prompting officials in both states to monitor it closely. Nevada’s governor declared an emergency in Washoe County, which includes Reno and parts of Lake Tahoe, and activated the Nevada National Guard.

Authorities reopened US 395, a major highway connecting California and Nevada, Monday evening after having it closed throughout the day.

Those on the east side of US 395, approximately 9,300 residents, have been authorized to return to their homes as of Tuesday afternoon, though officials encouraged people to exercise caution given the current conditions.

Cari Kieffer saw a video posted on social media that showed her house on Reno’s outskirts had burned down, with only a scorched basketball hoop still standing, she told The Associated Press on Sunday.

“I woke up this morning and just started crying – all my kids, they lost everything,” Kieffer told the AP. “We lost all our stuff. Everything we own is gone.”

The fire near Reno – a city of about 280,000 people roughly 350 miles northwest of Las Vegas – is human-caused, officials have said, without saying how it started or whether it was intentionally set. Winds fueled the flames over the weekend.

“We saw wind gusts in excess of 40 miles an hour that allowed that fire to … cover an area of almost 6 miles in less than 24 hours,” Chief Richard Edwards with the Truckee Meadows Fire Protection District told CNN Monday morning.

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Seven people have been injured, including four civilians and three first responders, Edwards said during Monday’s press conference. The first responders suffered only minor injures at the start of the fire, he said.

Sheriff Darin Balaam said the fire was human-caused, though it’s unclear whether it was intentional or accidental. “More than likely, this fire will be classified as undetermined,” he said.

Road closures in the area were also lifted, though residents were encouraged to stay aware as the situation evolves.

‘Flames just kept getting closer and closer’

The evacuation zone had reached the edge of the University of Nevada campus as of Sunday evening. University officials said the campus was safe and classes would happen as scheduled Monday, though an evacuation plan is in place in case conditions change, according to an online notice.

Northwest Specialty Hospital, in the evacuation warning area, had started evacuating patients due to the nearby wildfire, according to a news release.

“The safety and well-being of our rehabilitation and behavioral health patients and staff remain the highest priority and we are evacuating out of an abundance of caution,” the hospital said in a statement.

The emergency room at North Valleys, an extension of Northern Nevada Medical Center, also temporarily closed because of a mandated evacuation due to the Hawk Fire, it said in a release.

One resident said she was at work when she got the evacuation call, and rushed home to get to her children.

“I had a hard time getting there, they were closing the roads,” she said.

The woman added she grabbed a few belongings despite not being able to see in the darkness.

More than 100 people displaced by the fire were gathered inside one makeshift shelter CNN visited as Red Cross volunteers provided them with food, water and a place to sleep.

The main floor of the venue, which typically hosts conventions and other events in Reno, is now lined wall to wall with cots, including a cordoned off section where local medical volunteers are on hand to help those who might need care.

Numerous people were seen resting on the cots, including what appeared to be parents curled up with young children and some people embracing anxious pets.

One man CNN spoke with said he came to the shelter with only the clothes he was wearing after receiving an urgent warning from authorities to quickly evacuate.

An elderly woman with a cane walking her distraught dog outside the shelter said she was also told to evacuate Sunday due to fast-moving fire conditions. While she, her family and her dog were able to safely relocate to the shelter, she said she worries about the fate of her livestock.

Around 4,500 utility customers were without power in Washoe County as of Tuesday afternoon, according to PowerOutage.us.

Kieffer, whose home outside Reno was destroyed, had rushed home from her son’s football game Saturday to save their dogs and whatever possessions they could grab after learning their home was in an evacuation zone, she told the AP.

“I kept looking outside and the flames just kept getting closer and closer every time I looked,” Kieffer told the AP. “I was like, ‘We gotta go like now.’”

Standing in front of his brother’s burnt-out truck on Monday, Jesse Taylor pointed toward his parents’ Reno home and explained how lucky they were that their house is still standing.

The flames came down Peavine Mountain, a peak dominating the Reno skyline, toward his parents’ house, but destroyed only a fence and shed on their property. It circled around to another part of the neighborhood, burning homes as it spread, he said.

“There’s a lot of houses that have been lost out here – a ton – and it’s super depressing,” Taylor said. “I guess it’s just rebuild and try to take the best of it as you can.”

After returning from a weekend hunting trip, David Barb found he lost his taxidermy shop, but his house nearby appeared to have been spared thanks to workers with a landscaping company who cut a fire break, he said. His wife was home when the fire started on the other side of the mountain and later evacuated to a friend’s house.

“I’m kind of devastated, but thank God everyone’s safe,” he said Sunday, according to the AP.

Wesley Ong returned to what was left of his charred home Monday, sifting through the damage in hopes of finding some of his belongings.

He told Reuters he found parts of a pistol and a gun but has not found the rest of his firearms or fishing gear, which Ong believes likely melted in the fire.

Ken McNeil commended the efforts of firefighters, who are using airtankers to douse the flames. “I think they’re doing a great job. That’s an inaccessible area,” McNeil told CNN affiliate KTVN. “They’re using a lot of aircraft, and that’s what you have to do to fight this fire.”

Reno Mayor Hillary Schieve told CNN she’s grateful for all of the support the city has received from both federal and state partners.

“It’s just been all hands on deck. Everyone has been working together with ‘what do you need? What do you need?’” Schieve said Sunday.

This story has been updated with additional information

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CNN’s Josh Campbell from Reno, Farida Elsebai, Sara Smart, Julianna Bragg and Sarah Dewberry contributed to this report. CNN’s Avni Trivedi and Farida Elsebai, and CNN Meteorologists Tyler Ory and Chris Dolce, also contributed to this report.