Force of 660 faces spreading blaze northwest of Las Vegas

LAS VEGAS - Strong winds fanned a wildfire in a canyon northwest of here Monday, scorching more than 1,800 acres.

About 660 firefighters from five states were battling the blaze, joined by nine tanker aircraft and six helicopters, U.S. Forest Service spokeswoman Betty Blodgett said.

The firefighters had to cope with winds gusting to 20 mph Monday, and more of the same was forecast for Tuesday.

The Forest Service initially reported that 3,500 acres had been charred, but revised the figure downward after taking an aerial survey of the fire and its aftermath.

''We're hopeful that if all goes well, we can control it by Thursday,'' Blodgett said Monday afternoon.

Some 400 firefighters spent the day battling the stubborn blaze, with an additional 260 joining the effort Monday evening. The Forest Service was drawing firefighters from Nevada, California, Arizona, Utah and Montana, Blodgett said.

Named the Buck Springs fire, the blaze was racing through heavy brush and pinion juniper along Wheeler Pass, between Las Vegas and Pahrump, Nev. The fire is on the northwest side of Mount Charleston, an 11,918-foot peak 40 miles northwest of Las Vegas that is part of the Spring Mountain National Recreation Area.

The wildfire was first reported Saturday morning.

It had been reported 25 percent contained Sunday morning, but 8 mph winds out of the southwest Sunday afternoon fanned the embers, causing the wildfire to spread.

The incident commander, Tooter Burdick of the Bureau of Land Management's Ely field office, said he hoped to have the fire controlled by Thursday.

No injuries have been reported.

Burdick is unsure how the fire started. He said people were probably in the area, where a primitive campsite is located.

An unoccupied historical cabin at Wheeler Well is the only structure threatened by the fire, Blodgett said.

Burdick said winds and topography were causing the fire to climb to higher ground, where DC-3 and DC-4 air tankers from Cedar City, Utah were trying to stave off the blaze with fire retardant. The aircraft were staging their operations out of the Pahrump airport.

''It's real hot,'' Burdick said. ''There's only one way in and one way back out,'' he said about conditions on the fire line.''

Burdick said firefighters on the fire line were working in temperatures of 90 to 95 degrees.