A wildland firefighter douses a hot spot at the Jacks Valley Fire on Friday evening.
Photo by Kurt Hildebrand.
A 2.7-acre wildfire closed Jacks Valley Road for nearly four hours on Friday.
The fire appeared to start next to the road near the top of the ridge between Jacks Valley and Alpine View.
The second Jacks Valley Fire in two months burned on the north side of the road between the ridge and the Clear Creek Trailhead.
Unlike a handful of fires started by lightning strikes along the east side of the Valley, the fire appears to have been human caused.
The fire started at 4:16 p.m., while a thunder cell was miles away in the foothills southeast of Gardnerville. Firefighters announced they’d mopped up the blaze and the road reopened around 8:30 p.m.
Lightning strikes started coming down in the Pine Nuts outside of a thunderstorm traveling over eastern Carson Valley around 4:26 p.m., setting a fire near Mud Lake.
While that fire grew to 9.9 acres near the River Ranch, the Sierra Front Interagency Dispatch said it would be handled by units on scene.
The National Weather Service issued a special statement at 4:47 p.m. that thunderstorms would continue to develop through the early evening with strong outflow winds of up to 40 mph.
“Cloud-to-ground lightning, small hail and brief periods of heavy rain may accompany the stronger thunderstorms,” forecasters said.
Residents reported downpours in Minden, Gardnerville and South County.
More than a dozen lightning strikes hit in Carson Valley during the hour after the statement was issued before the cell chugged off to the northeast, losing energy as it went.
Lightning was the apparent cause of three other small fires in the Pine Nut Mountains, none of which was larger than a tenth of an acre.
Power outages accompanied the electrical storms with NV Energy reporting that 452 Gardnerville customers were without power, with 373 expected to see power again by 7 p.m. and 79 by 6:15 p.m.
By 8:45 p.m. the outages were down to 10 customers in Gardnerville and one in Minden.
An excessive heat warning kicks off noon Saturday and will last through 9 p.m. Monday.
While sunny skies are expected with a high on Saturday of 101 degrees, there is a chance of isolated thunderstorms, with Saturday seeing the best chance they’ll expand as far north as Interstate 80 between the Virginia Range and Fallon
They’re more likely to be in Mono, southern Lyon and Mineral counties through Monday.
Smoke is likely to come from the Beckwourth Complex and the Tennant Fire expanding further south in the coming days with a chance of some haze around Reno and east toward Fallon and Lovelock.
Previous Story: Jacks Valley Road is closed at Alpine View and Highway 395 for a brush fire near Jacks Valley Elementary School
The fire is one of two East Fork firefighters are responding to on Friday afternoon.
A second fire is burning near Mud Lake.
Lightning strikes are coming down in the Pine Nuts outside of a thunderstorm traveling through Carson Valley.
The National Weather Service reports that thunderstorms will continue to develop through the early evening with strong outflow winds of up to 40 mph.
More than a dozen lightning strikes hit in Carson Valley since the statement was issued at 4:47 p.m.
“Cloud-to-ground lightning, small hail and brief periods of heavy rain may accompany the stronger thunderstorms,” forecasters said.
Residents reported downpours in Minden, Gardnerville and South County.
The Sierra Front Interagency Dispatch Center reported the fire at 4:16 p.m., while the Mud Fire was reported 10 minutes later.
Firefighters also responded to a report of smoke above Fish Springs and an arcing power line at East Valley and Bitterbrush.
NV Energy reports that 452 Gardnerville customers are without power, with 373 expected to see power again by 7 p.m. and 79 by 6:15 p.m.
The web site lightningmaps.org detected more than a dozen strikes in Carson Valley with two or three at a time hitting the central Valley. The fire is the same area as a June 9 fire that burned about 285 acres. This story is developing.
A 10-by-10 smoldering fire was reported near the Carson City landfill about 6 p.m. One unit was working that fire.