RENO, Nev. (AP) — Crews are battling a fast-growing wildfire fed by dry grasses, high winds and heat in a remote part of northern Nevada.
Authorities say the blaze exploded in size over the weekend, to nearly 625 square miles on Monday.
Hundreds of firefighters are battling the blaze as flames grow up to 45 feet high near the small town of Paradise Valley. Police investigating how the fire started are looking for anyone camping in the area on July 4.
Norm Rooker with the Incident Management Team says the fire is being fed by an unusually large amount of invasive cheatgrass in the area about 200 miles northeast of Reno, near the borders with Oregon and Idaho.
The fire is about 8 percent contained. No buildings have burned and no evacuations are ordered in the sparsely populated ranching area.
