Kevin Clifford/Nevada Appeal
A fast-moving fire Friday afternoon destroyed a Mound House home.
Trish McGraw said she was returning to the Mica Circle modular she shares with property owner Susan Frisbie when she saw smoke pouring out of the unoccupied structure.
"It didn't look safe to go inside at that point, so I called 911," she said.
The fire apparently started in the living room and spread quickly through the well-kept double-wide. The house backs up to federal land and sits in the corner of the U-shaped street that meets Redrock Road north of Highway 50 East.
Lyon County Emergency Management Director Jeff Page said crews were called out about 3:30 p.m. By the time they arrived, the home was 50 percent engulfed.
Within 20 minutes, the flames were knocked down, but not before nearly everything inside had been destroyed. The family cat escaped unharmed.
As Frisbie filled out a statement for investigators, McGraw, a photographer, collected some paperwork that survived inside a charred file cabinet. But all of her clothing and the computers that stored her photographs were lost.
Although she owns another home at Lake Tahoe, everything Frisbie owned was inside the house, McGraw said.
The two will stay with neighbors until they figure out their next move, she said. The Red Cross has offered assistance.
"It's only things," said Frisbie, her arms filled with the file folders she pulled from the cabinet. "But I'm sure it will hit me later."
The fire's cause is under investigation.
- Contact reporter F.T. Norton at ftnorton@nevada
appeal.com or 881-1213.