Bullet causes Carson range fire; five other fires fizzle out

A fire at the Carson City shooting range at 9:16 p.m. Monday was likely started by a spark from an electrical box damaged by a bullet.

Battalion Chief Richard Chrzanowski said a Sierra Pacific Power Co. technician reported he found what he believed to be a bullet hole in an insulator on a power pole above the range.

The damage dropped a spark onto the dry grass below. Just under 10 acres were burned before crews from the Carson City Fire Department, U.S. Bureau of Land Management and Nevada Division of Forestry got the fire under control.

A rash of five lightning-sparked fires that struck in and around Carson City about 6 p.m. Tuesday were out within an hour.

Fires were reported near Duck Hill, Timberline, south of Highway 50 East in Mound House and between Stagecoach and Mark Twain, and a fire in Fredricksburg.

All seem to have amounted to little or nothing.

In Timberline, Combs Canyon was closed for about 45 minutes while crews knocked down a 1.5-acre blaze.

According to Carson City Battalion Chief Richard Chrzanowski, a thunder cell moved through the area, bringing with it a surge of lightning.

The Combs Canyon Road fire and another small fire near Imus Road were both out by 7 p.m.

"It helped that the immediate area of the fire was getting help by a soaking rain," he said.

In other areas, responding units report that fires were suppressed by accompanying rainfall or were unfounded, according to the Sierra Front Interagency Dispatch Center Web site.