Fires burning in Storey, Churchill counties

UPDATE 9:20PM: The New Shooting Range Fire has grown to about 800 acres in size as of last report, Storey County Manager Pat Whitten said Wednesday night.
He said the air tanker made its last drop of the night, and there are currently 70 firefighter personnel battling the blaze.
"And we are ordering additional resources," Whitten said.
No new information on the Little Den Fire burning near Middlegate. The SFIDC gave its last update of the evening at 8 p.m. Its web site reports new updates will be available by mid-morning on Thursday.
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UPDATE 8:40PM: The New Shooting Range Fire, burning in a canyon near the USA Parkway in Storey County has now grown to 700 acres as of 8 p.m., Storey County Manager Pat Whitten said Wednesday night.
The fire was first reported to Storey County fire officials at 5:20 p.m.
"The fire has grown steadily into the late afternoon," Whitten said. "We anticipate it will grow larger before we gain containment. It is in an area that is very difficult to access."
The blaze is burning in a steep canyon, Whitten said. The location, along with erratic, gusty winds are creating a challenge for fire crews.
No containment or estimate of containment has been reported yet, Whitten said.
The fire is burning mostly light fuels, such as cheat grass and sagebrush, Whitten said.
There are no significant fuels like pinions or junipers being burned, he said, and no structures or power lines are currently threatened.
Resources on scene include equipment and personnel from the Storey County Fire Protection District, the Truckee Meadows Fire Protection District, Sparks and Reno fire departments, North and Central Lyon County fire district, the Nevada Division of Forestry and the United States Forest Service, Whitten said.
"We have everything from dozers to brush engines to hand crews, and an air tanker making drops," he said.
Whitten said even private contractor Ames Construction, which is tasked with building the USA Parkway connection between Interstate 80 at Patrick and Highway 50 at Silver Springs, has donated two bulldozers to help establish a fire line for crews.
"It is the ultimate display of cooperation between public and private agencies," he said.
The National Weather Service forecast for Northwestern Nevada includes light, variable winds to nine miles per hour (mph) through tonight. Winds are expected to pick up Thursday, though, blowing from the southeast early 5-10 mph and increasing to 12-17 mph in the afternoon, shifting direction to the south/southwest. Gusts up to 23 mph are forecasted for Thursday.
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UPDATE 8:00PM: The Little Den Fire, located on federal BLM land east of Middlegate, has now grown to 1,800 acres, the SFIDC reported. The blaze is burning through sagebrush, grass and pinion-juniper.
There is no estimate of containment or control of the fire, which started at around 10:30 a.m. this morning, the SFIDC reports.
Firefighting resources include three air tankers, two helicopters, three hand crews, seven engines and a total of 140 personnel, the SFIDC said.
Firefighers are actively engaged in anchoring and flanking the fire.
The fire is currently burning in an old fire scar and is expected to move east tonight toward the western slope of the Desatoya Range, the SFIDC said. No structures are in the area.
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Five hundred acres of federal land have burned in Churchill County, near Middlegate, since a wildfire was reporter there a little before 10:30 a.m. this morning, the Bureau of Land Management reports.

Smoke from the Little Den Fire has been moving north/northeast toward Highway 50, according to the National Weather Service.

At about 6:40 p.m. Wednesday, the Sierra Front Interagency Dispatch Center (SFIDC) reported that multiple resources are on scene, and that more have been ordered.

No word yet on the cause of the fire or whether any structures have been threatened.

A second brush fire was reported Wednesday afternoon off the USA Parkway in Storey County, fire officials there said.

The Truckee Meadows Fire Protection District (TMFPD) said some of its crews and volunteers from Silver Lake would help Storey County's fire crews battle the blaze.

The Shooting Range Fire has burned about 100 acres, the SFIDC reported.

Smoke from this fire can be seen from Silver Springs and the University of Nevada's fire cameras in Reno.

Check back for updates.