Nearly 1.2 million acres burned in Nevada during 2017 fire season
RENO, Nev. (News 4 & Fox 11) — According to Great Basin Coordination Center, 1.19 million acres have burned throughout Nevada during the 2017 fire season.
Officials say 658 wildfires have broken out in Nevada.
The historic winter caused fire fuels such as cheatgrass, sagebrush, and juniper to grow. As fire officials expected, the invasive plants dried out with the high temperatures and became prime fuels for the smallest of sparks.
However, other states in the west are also having an active fire season. Oregon and Montana are both battling nearly 20 active wildfires each, causing resources to be stretched thin.
"We do send our resources to other locations to help out," said Erica Hupp with the U.S Forest Service. "Right now we have a lot of our fire folks are not even in the office. They're all over the country in Montana, Oregon, and Washington and helping out those states."
Earlier in the earlier season, Nevada was leading with the most fires because of some of the large Bureau of Land Management wildfires around the Elko area. Nearly 70 percent of the acres burned in the state belong to the BLM.
The last fire season this active in Nevada was back in 2006, when 1.3 million acres burned.
