RENO, Nev. (AP) — Windy, dry conditions that have raised the threat of wildfires in Nevada has prompted the National Weather Service to issue a red flag warning for most of the northern half of the state into Tuesday.
Weather service officials in Reno said Monday winds gusting to 35 to 40 mph (56 kilometers per hour) combined with extremely low humidity could cause rapid growth in a number of fires north and south of U.S. Interstate 80 from Reno to Elko.
The red flag warning is in effect from noon to 9 p.m. Monday and again on Tuesday from 2 p.m. to 8 p.m. The warning area stretches from east of the California line as far south as Hawthorne about 130 miles south of Reno, all the way to the Idaho line as far east as Wells about 60 miles from the Utah line.
The service says the situation is "particularly dangerous."
A wildfire that has burned 130 square miles since it broke out a week ago near the California-Nevada line has closed a state highway and prompted an evacuation advisory at a tribal community on the edge of Pyramid Lake 35 miles northeast of Reno.
Nearly 900 firefighters remain on the scene of the Long Valley fire, which now is estimated to be 35 percent contained.
The Bureau of Land Management issued the advisory Sunday night for the town of Sutcliffe. An evacuation center has been established at the school gym in Nixon.
The Pyramid Highway has been closed in both directions north of its intersection with State Route 446 south of Sutcliffe
The BLM said Monday tribal police will go door-to-door to notify residents in the event a mandatory evacuation is ordered.