Bison Fire News Today

With our current long daylight hours, extremely hot weather, fierce afternoon thunder boomers, high winds, low humidity, and bone-dry vegetation, you need to be aware of the ever-increasing fire danger surrounding us.

Yerington, Nev. – The Bison Fire is producing a great deal of smoke and ash in the area of Mason Valley, Yerington and Smith Valley. This is due to the sustained winds and will continue until the winds die down. People with respiratory problems are urged to stay indoors until the smoke and ash clear.

UPDATE 8:14PM: Sierra Front Interagency Dispatch Center reports the fire off of Mica Drive near Hobo Hot Springs has been extinguished. It was a 10-foot by 20-foot fire. A Carson Now reader said it was put out by a homeowner. Sierra Front reports they had help from East Fork Fire District.

Picture was taken on Highway 50 near Highway 395.

The Bison Fire grew to 1,400 acres late Thursday night with around 15 percent containment and 220 firefighters working the blaze, the Douglas County Sheriffs Office reports. No structures have been damaged and no injuries reported, said Douglas County Sheriffs Sgt. Pat Brooks. Air support has been suspended for the night.

The Lyon County Office of Emergency Management has been notified by the unified command of the Bison Fire burning in the Pine Nut Mountain Range in Douglas County about the behavior of the wildfire, the direction it is heading and smoke and flames visible to residents in Smith Valley and Wellington.

Aerial photo taken July 4 at 8:19 p.m. looking east over a residential area close to the Bison fire from Pinenut Road. Photo by Jack Freer.

We expected increasing wildfire activity with global warming, and we've got it.