Six firefighters have been injured battling a wildfire northwest of Winnemucca, the Bureau of Land Management said Wednesday. Three of the six were flown to Humboldt General Hospital in Winnemucca. Two then were flown to the burn center at University Medical Center in Las Vegas. Another was treated and released. The other three firefighters were driven to the hospital in Winnemucca, treated and released after the incident Tuesday afternoon.
All six are members of the Eldorado National Forest hotshot crew based near Placerville.
A federal interagency serious accident investigation team was scheduled to arrive in Winnemucca on Wednesday.
The New York Peak fire has burned some 6,000 acres of brush and trees 65 miles northwest of Winnemucca, one of the largest fires in the state.
Others include the Range fire 16 miles northeast of Hiko at 6,500 acres — a little over 10 square miles — at 10 percent containment; the Trident fire nine miles southeast of Denio, which is near containment at 5,507 acres; the Springer fire 25 miles southeast of Battle Mountain, which also is near containment at 4,500 acres and the 4,215-acre Marble fire 20 miles west of Wells, which is 90 percent contained.
In southern Nevada, lightning touched off a few small fires in the Black Mountains south of Henderson, but the thunderstorms helped fire crews gain 40 percent containment of the 1,200-acre Picnic fire near Lovell Canyon in the Rainbow Mountain wilderness.
Closer to town, firefighters were nearing containment of a fire in the Red Rock National Conservation Area. The visitor center and loop road reopened on Wednesday.
Northeast of Las Vegas, a 2,500-acre fire was threatening communication towers on Virgin Peak.
Other large fires in the central and eastern parts of the state include the Hambly fire 13 miles northwest of Hiko was burning at 1,500 acres with no containment; the 2,000-acre Winters fire 50 miles northeast of Winnemucca, with no containment, and the 9 Mile fire 36 miles southwest of Montello, which was 95 percent contained at 1,700 acres.
A 4,000 acre blaze 25 miles southeast of Battle Mountain and a 1,183-acre fire 8 miles north of the ghost town of Adaven southwest of Ely are being monitored, but not actively fought.
As of Monday, wildland fires this season, including prescribed burns, had blackened 309,694 acres in Nevada, equaling nearly 484 square miles, or about the size of Los Angeles.