Home burns in Dayton, fire extinguished in Virginia City Highlands

A home in Dayton was lost to a fire fueled by winds in excess of 20 mph this afternoon.

According to Central Lyon County Fire Chief John Gillenwater, the fire claimed a home at 13 Harbor Road, just east of the Santa Maria Ranch development in west Dayton.

The fire was reported at 1:03 p.m. when off-duty firefighter spotted it as he was responding to a mutual aid call for fire in Storey County.

By the time crews got on scene at Harbor Road, the house was 75 percent engulfed.

"In this wind that's not a very good position to be, so (crews) did a really quick search of uninvolved areas, confirmed with some neighbors that nobody was home, and started defensive operations to keep it to the original structure of origin," said Gillenwater.

The fire also destroyed some out buildings on the property.

As of 3 p.m. the State Fire Marshal's Office was on scene. The cause is under investigation.

According to the National Weather Service, winds in Dayton were clocked between 20 and 45 between noon and 2 p.m.

In Storey County, a fire which broke out at a home in the Virginia Highlands this afternoon was extinguished`about an hour later, according to Pat Whitten, public information officer for the county.

Whitten said a resident on Graves Road called in about 12:45 p.m. that flames were coming out from under the porch where it is believed ashes from a chimney blew back due to steady and gusty winds.

"With heavy juniper and pinon growth out there, we got responses from Sierra, Sparks, Reno and Lyon and the NDF because of all the wildland interface," he said.

Within minutes, they learned all the residents were out of the home and safe, and the only agency remaining was Nevada Division of Forestry. By 1:20 the fire was under control and fire personnel were going through the crawl space to look for hot spots, said Whitten.

Damage to the floor and deck were estimated at under $10,000 and the home is habitable, he said.