Another Disater For The Reno Area

The Reno area certainly has had their share of disasters in the past year.  From a truck-train crash that killed 6 to the Reno Air Races disaster that killed 11, to the IHOP shooting that killed 4 in Carson City, to numerous forest and wild fires that has destroyed thousands of acres, destroyed hundreds of homes and killed several people.
This past week, Reno had another large wild fire, started when a man was careless in dumping his fireplace ashes.
From the Reno-Gazette Herald: The Washoe Drive Fire that destroyed 29 homes and charred 3,177 acres south of Reno started Thursday afternoon because a man improperly discarded hot fireplace ashes on the northern end of Washoe Valley, officials said Friday evening.
The blaze was 65 percent contained as 300 firefighters continued to work to extinguish hotspots amid another weather system that brought high winds and the threat of potential flash flooding in the areas that burned.

The elderly man, who officials declined to name Friday, came forward to investigators earlier in the day to admit he had discarded of the ashes in a utility trailer shortly before 1 p.m. Thursday. This is about the time the Washoe Drive Fire started. So far, the cost of the response has been estimated at $690,000 while the damage is likely to be in the millions, officials said.  http://www.rgj.com/article/20120120/NEWS06/120120001/1459
Further, Reno has had no significant rain or snow for close to two months, so it is highly likely that more wild fires will occur in northern Nevada and the Reno-Lake Tahoe region in the near future.
Hopefully, things will quiet down for a few months to let the area regroup.