Fire Official Says Arcing Power Lines Caused Big Nevada Brush Fire
Satellite imagery and surveillance video from a casino roof 5 miles away helped pinpoint arcing power lines in gale force winds as the cause of a November brush fire that destroyed five Reno homes and damaged two dozen others, investigators said Tuesday.
Officials for the utility, NV Energy, said they disagreed with the conclusion. They believe the 500-acre blaze most likely was sparked by a campfire in the Sierra foothills on the edge of the south Reno neighborhood where 1,200 residences were evacuated.
Reno Fire Marshal Tray Palmer said this week they investigated but ruled out the likelihood the Pinehaven Fire was caused by a campfire, target shooters or off-road enthusiasts on motorcycles Tor ATVs.
RENO, Nev. (AP) Fire investigators say arcing power lines in gale force winds started a brush fire that destroyed five homes and damaged two dozen others in a south Reno neighborhood along the Sierra foothills in November.Reno Fire Marshal Tray Palmer says they investigated but ruled out the possibility the fire was caused by a campfire, target shooters, motorcycles or ATVs.Palmer says they found no evidence of any negligence on the part of the utility, NV Energy.He says there were no signs of any maintenance issues with the lines. NV Energy maintains the blaze was started by a campfire that escaped in high winds.
The incoming Biden Administration has laid out some ambitious plans to turn the tide on the pandemic. But what does it mean for the Mountain West?
In a speech last week, President-Elect Joe Biden said when it comes to vaccine distribution, his administration will, “manage the hell out of this operation.”
Part of that plan includes setting up mobile vaccination units in rural areas. Christine Porter is a public health expert at the University of Wyoming. She says that could make it a lot easier for folks to get vaccinated in the Mountain West. What these mobile clinics do is make it available and there will be some people who want them. And that will protect them, and should help reduce transmission rates in general in that community, even though some people might choose not to get vaccinated at that opportunity, Porter said.