Pine Nut fire grows to 100 acres

GENOA — The Holiday Fire burning in the Pine Nut Mountains south of Gardnerville grew to 55 acres as of Friday afternoon, according to officials.

The fire, which could be seen burning from across Carson Valley on Thursday night, was putting up a lot of smoke, but there was little active flame at around 7:45 a.m.

East Fork and Bureau of Land Management units were on scene and more were on their way to the remote location between Carter and Buffalo Springs, northeast of Highway 395.

While winds were still Friday morning, they were expected to pick up to 10-15 mph, gusting to 20 mph in the afternoon.

Firefighters had difficulty reaching the fire, which was between Sugarloaf Mountain east of Pineview Estates.

The fire was reported at 7:10 p.m. by a resident of Pinenut Creek Road.

East Fork firefighters tried several routes to gain access to the fire.

The first unit to reach the scene found two juveniles, who said they’d broken down and were stuck. Douglas County Sheriff’s Search & Rescue were called in to transport the juveniles out of the wilderness.

The East Fork Fire Protection District was on scene at the fire which was moving slowly through grass and pinion juniper. The fire is in an area which has seen numerous fires over the past several years and is surrounded by past burn scare areas. Access was extremely difficult and resource availability was a challenge. Hand crews were on order and one helicopter from the Nevada Division of Forestry was scheduled to conduct bucket work.

The fire appears to be on Bureau of Land Management (BLM) land. East Fork Fire Protection District was in the process of handing the fire off to BLM fire management team. East Fork had two overhead personnel assigned to the fire. Extinguishment could take up to three days. There was no containment figure available. Cause of the fire is under investigation by BLM.